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Did Skin Prep Fuel This Fire? - February 2017 - Subscribe to Outpatient Surgery Magazine

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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Whole-Room Disinfection Systems Automated units reach the surfaces that manual cleaning misses. T he first thing to know — and to always keep in mind — about whole-room disinfection systems is that they don't replace tra- ditional cleaning methods. They don't take the elbow grease out of wiping down high-touch areas or eliminate the need to clean floors with hospital-grade cleaner and disinfectant. The key word is augment. In the increasingly challenging battle against pathogens, whole-room systems give you an added layer of security on top of the standard cleaning and disinfection policies and procedures you already have in place. But if you don't use traction and friction to remove the dirt first, neither UVC light, hydrogen peroxide, ozone nor anything else can get through the cover that dirt provides, to actually disinfect target surfaces. Finding the time The biggest challenge in outpatient environments — beyond the cost — is likely to be incorporating such systems into your routine. Because all require a chunk of time to do the job (15 minutes at mini- mum), a typical busy outpatient surgical facility probably isn't going to find it realistic to use them before or after every case. With UVC light systems, you may have to move equipment around, or even out of the room, to eliminate shadowing. If the light doesn't hit a particular spot, it doesn't disinfect it. With all the equipment pres- ent in a typical OR, that can be a challenge. With machines that use chemicals like hydrogen peroxide and vari- ous other combination mists and vapors, you may have to tape up air vents to prevent dangerous concentrations of chemicals from getting into HVAC ducts. Time may also be needed for chemicals to suffi- ciently dissipate before people can re-enter a disinfected room. 1 1 8 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 1 7 Thinking of Buying … James Davis, MSN, CIC

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