Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Special Outpatient Surgery Edition - Infection Control - May 2019

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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bers are carriers of Staphylococcus aureus. When staff members move into and out of the OR dur- ing surgery, they inter- rupt laminar airflow, which increases the risk of airborne con- taminants reaching the sterile field. Laminar flow is also disrupted when its currents hit stationary objects around the surgical table. Current standards for OR air quality are based on engineering requirements for air flow and ventilation. They do not address specific evidence-based criteria for the quantitative reduction of viable microbial aerosols. So how do you measure and manage potentially infectious aerosols in the OR air? There are no practical ways. Perhaps that's why infection preven- tionists often focus on contact contamination, aseptic technique, the shedding of skin flora from surgical team members and patients, sur- face disinfection and hand hygiene in their efforts to reduce contami- nation risks in the OR. That's certainly understandable. But we now have access to sophisticated data that clearly show airborne contamination is occurring in the OR. There is also an increasing body of clinical evi- 5 6 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • M A Y 2 0 1 9 • HARDWARE STORE Implants are susceptible to harboring airborne bacteria, which puts joint replacement patients at increased risk of suffering post-op infections. Pamela Bevelhymer, RN, BSN, CNOR

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