title: Bacterial Contamination of the Anesthesia Workplace and Efficiency of Routine Cleaning Procedures: A Prospective Cohort Study.
abstract: In this prospective cohort study, 200 decontamination (cleaning and disinfection) procedures of the anesthesia workplace either by anesthesia nurses or by specially trained housekeeping staff were monitored. Time used by housekeeping staff was shorter (1.2 ± 0.1 vs 2.6 ± 0.2 minutes on average, data are mean ± SEM; P < 0.0001) with less visible marker spots (14.4 ± 0.68 [55%] vs 17.3 ± 0.75 [66.7%] on average, data are mean ± SEM; P = 0.0041), and the bacterial load showed a decrease (≅67%, P < 0.0001) compared with anesthesia nurses. Specially trained housekeeping staff outperformed anesthesia nurses in cleaning the anesthesia workplace. Specific training for anesthesia workplace cleaning is supported by these findings.
authors.affiliation: From the *Department of Anesthesiology and Intensive Care Medicine, University Medical Center Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; †Institut für Umweltmedizin und Krankenhaushygiene am Universitätsklinikum Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; ‡Institut für Krankenhaushygiene & Infektionsprävention, Gesundheitsverbund Landkreis Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany; §Institute of Medical Biometry and Medical Informatics, University of Freiburg, Freiburg, Germany; and ‖Deutsches Beratungszentrum für Hygiene (BZH GmbH), Freiburg, Germany.
authors.forename: Ulrich
authors.initials: U
authors.lastname: Goebel
authors.forename: Nicole
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Gebele
authors.forename: Winfried
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Ebner
authors.forename: Markus
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dettenkofer
authors.forename: Hartmut
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Bürkle
authors.forename: Dieter
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Hauschke
authors.forename: Sebastian
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Schulz-Stübner
mesh_terms: D000776:Anesthesiology; D058491:Bacterial Load; D015169:Colony Count, Microbial; D003428:Cross Infection / Q000382:microbiology / Q000517:prevention & control*; D003666:Decontamination / Q000379:methods*; D004526:Efficiency; D004784:Environmental Monitoring / Q000379:methods; D004866:Equipment Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006797:Housekeeping, Hospital; D006801:Humans; D009719:Nurse Anesthetists; D009873:Operating Rooms; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D013996:Time and Motion Studies; D000078329:Workforce; D017132:Workplace