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I N F E C T I O N
P R E V E N T I O N
nology has recently been rejuvenated, as it's been proven to be 99.9%
effective against the majority of
organisms, including C. diff spores.
Environmental cleanliness is a high
priority for HAI prevention.
WIPES Realize the limitations of disinfectant wipes.
Because humans perform most
cleaning, there is the risk of error during the process. UV lights are
effective adjuncts to manual cleaning, providing as clean a surface as
possible for HAI prevention. There's actual science behind UV light: It
has the ability to kill organisms that its beams come in contact with.
At our hospitals, we use UV lights after we terminally clean our ORs.
5. Disinfectant wipes are a good way to clean ORs after each case.
Well, sort of. Disinfectant wipes gained popularity quickly due to
the convenience factor of wipe methodology. However, we must
recognize some limitations. These wipes were developed to quickly
and efficiently clean equipment such as glucometers and blood
pressure cuffs. They've proven to do this very well. When large surfaces such as OR beds require cleaning, disinfectant wipes may not
be the appropriate choice. OR beds have a large surface area to
clean and may require so many wipes to do this adequately that
they might not be cost effective. If the case was bloody, wipes will
not be sufficient to clean the surface adequately. Larger cleaning
cloths with more disinfectant product are required to manually
remove the organic debris and provide adequate contact time with
the surface to obtain optimal cleaning. OSM
Ms. Kohut (klkohut@g mail.com) is system director of infection prevention
for Cone Health, a 6-hospital system in Greensboro, N.C.
J U N E 2013 | O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E
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