F
rom "superbug" outbreaks to low hand hygiene compliance
rates, infection preventionists say there are plenty of cross-
contamination threats that keep them up at night. We
spoke to them about some of their current top concerns
and what you can do to keep your facility free from infection.
— Kendal Gapinski
What are the biggest threats of cross-contamination?
Ms. Nucci: I'm particularly concerned about surface and environmental
cross-contamination, especially when it comes to spores like C. diff.,
which are extremely difficult to kill. Apart from that, facilities also
tend to have issues maintaining and handling dirty equipment, espe-
8 0 • 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 R C H 2 0 1 6
Pearls to Prevent
Cross-Contamination
Infection preventionists share their top SSI threats and what you can do to stop them.
• A DEEPER CLEAN Flexible endoscopes present some of the hardest reprocessing challenges, from transportation to manual cleaning.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN
