Mr Roel Castillo1, Dr Dayane Melo Costa2, Prof. Lilian Lopes2, Dr Anaclara Tipple3, Prof Karen Vickery2, Dr Helen Hu2, Prof Anand Deva2
1Sydney Adventist Hospital, Wahroonga, Australia
2Macquarie University, Macquarie University, Australia
3University of Goias, , Brazil
Aim: To determine the effect of hand hygiene and glove use on the maintenance of RSI cleanliness.
Methods: Following manual and automated cleaning, Halsted-mosquito forceps were assessed for adenosine triphosphate (ATP), protein and microbial contamination after handling with gloved and ungloved but washed hands using an ATP surface swab test, bicinchoninic acid assay, and standard culture plate/broth, respectively. Gram’s stain was used to classify the isolates. RSI contamination was assessed immediately following, and 1, 2, and 4 h after washing hands.
Findings: Packing instruments with hands that had been unwashed for 2 or 4 h resulted in a significant increase in contaminating ATP compared with all other treatment groups (P < 0.05). There was a significant correlation between the time since washing hands, the amount of ATP (r ¼ 0.93; P < 0.001), and the microbial load (r ¼ 0.83; P < 0.001) contaminating the forceps, where the longer the time the hands remained unwashed, the higher the contamination. Significantly more contaminating protein was found on forceps handled with ungloved hands that had not been washed for 2 or 4 h (P < 0.001).
Conclusion: Critical RSI inspection, assembling, lubricating and packing should be performed using either gloves or within one h of washing hands.
Background: During functionality testing and packaging of reusable surgical instruments (RSI) for sterilization, instruments are frequently touched. There is a lack of standards relating to hand hygiene frequency and the use of gloves in the sterilizing service unit packing area.
Biography: CSSD experience in 7 public and private hospitals, involved in reusable medical device research, pursuing post-grad in public health with a vision to improve reprocessing practices through research.