Microbial surface contamination after standard operating room cleaning practices following surgical treatment of...

Area of Science:

• Infection Control
• Healthcare Epidemiology
• Surgical Site Infections

Background:

• Some joint arthroplasty surgeons advocate for terminal cleaning of operating rooms after infected cases.
• This practice aims to reduce microbial contamination for subsequent patients.
• Existing literature lacks evidence to support this enhanced cleaning protocol.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the necessity of terminal cleaning after infected cases in operating rooms.
• To determine if standard operating room turnover adequately reduces microbial surface contamination.
• To assess the association between intraoperative organisms and surface contamination post-cleaning.

Main Methods:

• Microbial surface contamination was measured on 9 surfaces in operating rooms.
• Samples were collected after standard turnover following infected (14) and non-infected (16) cases.
• Colony counts were assessed at 24 and 48 hours, and organisms were identified.

Main Results:

• No significant difference in microbial colony counts was observed between infected and non-infected case groups.
• No correlation was found between organisms isolated from infected patients and those found on operating room surfaces.
• Maximum contamination levels were significantly below proposed hospital surface hygiene thresholds.

Conclusions:

• Standard operating room turnover effectively minimizes surface microbial contamination.
• Terminal cleaning after infected cases is not required to ensure patient safety.
• Current cleaning protocols are sufficient regardless of the previous case's infection status.