Abstract
BackgroundCleaning and disinfection processes must be improved so that there is a reduction in environmental contamination of frequent-contact surfaces. The objective of this study was to evaluate cleaning and disinfection of surfaces at a specialized healthcare unit after an intervention program.MethodsExploratory, longitudinal, and correlational study carried out in a medium-complexity clinic. Two hundred and forty samples from five surfaces were collected during three phases: diagnosis; implementation of an intervention program; and evaluation of immediate and long-term effects. In total, 720 evaluations were made, performed through three monitoring methods: visual inspection; adenosine triphosphate bioluminescence assay (ATP); and aerobic colony count (ACC). The Wilcoxon, Mann-Whitney, and Fisher’s Exact tests were run to analyze data statistically.ResultsCleaning and disinfection of surfaces were not being performed properly in most cases. Failure rates of surfaces reached 37.5 and 100% when the ATP and ACC procedures were used, respectively. However, after an intervention program, an improvement occurred. Success rates increased by 43.96% (ATP) and 12.46% (ACC) in phase I, by 70.6% (ATP) and 82.3% (ACC) immediately after interventions, and by 76.52% (ATP) and 85.76% (ACC) two months after the changes, showing that the program was effective.ConclusionThe present study reveals that implementing intervention actions with a cleaning and healthcare team brings benefits to prevent the spread of pathogenic agents through frequently touched hospital surfaces.
Highlights
Cleaning and disinfection processes must be improved so that there is a reduction in environmental contamination of frequent-contact surfaces
The variation of Relative light units (RLU) outputs had a higher magnitude than the colony-forming units (CFUs) reading
The growing concern with the risk to contract Healthcare-associated infections (HAI) in outpatient healthcare services has been posing a challenge to caretakers, professionals, and researchers worldwide, despite the existence of literature informing about the severity of this scenario
Summary
Cleaning and disinfection processes must be improved so that there is a reduction in environmental contamination of frequent-contact surfaces. Ensuring clean and safe environments is an essential component of effective health care, which is fundamental to prevent and control healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). These infections affect hundreds of millions of people worldwide and lead to significant mortality rates and financial losses for health systems [1]. Actions carried out in hospitals in Germany [3], Taiwan [4], and the United States [5] showed an increase of 69, 44.2, and 34% in clean surfaces, respectively These results are promising, they are restricted to hospital settings.
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