1 2 2 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 7
T
ake a few
minutes
to watch
your staff
in action
the next time they
turn over ORs. Do
they wipe down the keyboards and mice at nursing and anesthesia
workstations? What about the beds, door handles and anesthesia
workstations? Those are the high-touch items Terri Link, MPH, BSN,
CNOR, CIC, a perioperative patient safety specialist at the University
of Colorado Hospital in Aurora, Colo., identified in a study published
in the American Journal of Infection Control (osmag.net/g8VdVY). If
your turnover teams don't touch on those areas between cases, the
surfaces in your ORs might not be as clean you think they are.
Unfortunately, that might be the rule rather than the exception. "On
average, only about 40% of surfaces that need to be disinfected are
being addressed," says Philip Carling, MD, MPH, a clinical professor
of medicine at the Boston (Mass.) University School of Medicine.
"Environmental cleaning is an underappreciated area of concern
Is Your Cleaning Barely
Scratching the Surface?
Daniel Cook | Executive Editor
Tap into the science of
surface disinfection to
rid your rooms of
infection-causing
bioburden.
• WIPE OUT Your staff might think they've got surface cleaning covered, but studies suggest most high-touch items
aren't disinfected properly between cases.
