A P R I L 2 0 1 9 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y. N E T • 6 9
T
he evi-
dence is
clear: to
fully
clean and
disinfect the OR, man-
ual cleaning alone just
doesn't cut it. Despite
your turnover team's
best efforts to wipe
and mop every inch of cart, counter, table and floor, studies show that
up to half of all operating room surfaces will remain contaminated
with pathogens — including multidrug-resistant organisms such as
methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) — when you
wheel the next patient in. The shortcomings of manual cleaning have
ushered in a new era of whole-room disinfection technology. Which
whole-room system is right for your facility? Let's start by considering:
• Throughput/turnaround time. What is your average caseload?
How quickly do you need an OR to be cleaned and disinfected? Do
you aim for end-of-day, between-cases or continuous disinfection?
• Personnel/staffing. Do you have staff available to oversee a tech-
nology that requires manual remote operation, room evacuation/seal-
ing and device repositioning?
• Ergonomics/space. What distance must a device that you wheel
from room to room cover? What are the entrance/exit dimensions
through which you would need to maneuver a device? What is your
Helen Boehm Johnson, MD | Vero Beach, Fla.
A Wide-Angle View of Today's
Whole-Room Disinfection Systems
Which automated surface-sterilizing technology best suits your needs?
• ENVIRONMENTAL DISINFECTION The persistent contamination of OR surfaces despite traditional cleaning and
disinfection methods has led to the emergence of whole-room disinfection technologies.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
