more effective than just terminal cleaning processes with chemicals
because the light is theoretically going everywhere if you move units
around the room to avoid shadows," he says.
On the downside, says Dr. Gostine, UV light disinfection is not practical
to use after every case in the outpatient setting, where staff need to turn
over rooms quickly. "Someone has to move the unit into position, plug it
in, set it up and move it around the room so it can perform numerous
cycles," says Dr. Gostine. "It really requires a dedicated staff member."
He says running cycles at night after ORs shut down makes more
practical sense for outpatient facilities.
Dr. Gostine adds that overhead UV lights are another promising appli-
cation of the disinfecting technology. They continually decontaminate
high-touch surfaces such as keyboards, touch panels and anesthesia
machines. In general, Dr. Gostine believes UV light disinfection is a very
promising additive technology. "We need to find the best way to use it
in conjunction with other cleaning methods," he says.
4
Air awareness
Airflow and air purification are vital to infection control in the
OR. Surgeries involving implants are particularly risky in terms
of contaminated air leading to surgical site infections, says Sue
Barnes, RN, CIC, FAPIC, a board-certified independent infection con-
trol consultant, former national program leader for infection preven-
tion and control for Kaiser Permanente and a fellow of the
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology
(APIC). Contaminants in the air can settle on hardware before they're
implanted and during the process of implantation before the wound is
completely closed, she points out.
"The body's immune system focuses on implants as a foreign body,"
she says. "It's not as quick to respond to any invading bacteria, and it
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