Taking the Lead with Disposable ECG Leads: Preventing Chest Incision Surgical Site Infections

Abstract

METHODS: A faulty fire sprinkler head failed resulting in the flooding of the sterile supply for a 120 bed hospital. Responding personal set up fans to facilitate drying, adding to the contamination. This study evaluates the efficacy of combining pulsed xenon disinfection with routine terminal cleaning protocols following a flood. Quick recovery efforts prevented the collection of environmental samples before the terminal cleaning. Twenty environmental swab samples were collected after a routine terminal cleaning. The pulsed xenon machine ran for one 15 minute disinfection cycle on each side of the sterile supply room. Afterwards, 20 additional cultures were collected. RESULTS: The Group 1 (pre-pulsed xenon disinfection) culture samples grew a combined total of 10 colony forming units (CFU) (5 Staphylococcus spp., 2 Bacillus non-anthracis spp., 3 Coagulasenegative Staphylococcus), while the Group 2 (post-pulsed xenon disinfection) culture samples grew 1 CFU (Streptococcus viridans) after 48 hours. Utilizing a paired t-test to compare the data sets resulted in a two-tailed P value of 0.0158 with a 95% confidence interval of 0.09 to 0.81. Group 1 had a mean of 0.50 with a standard deviation of 0.69, and Group 2 resulted in a mean of 0.05 with a standard deviation of 0.22. CONCLUSIONS: The Results of this study illustrate that by combining pulsed xenon disinfection and terminal cleaning procedures; we were able to achieve a statistically significant reduction in CFUs on environmental surfaces and supplies. Through this study we were able to demonstrate that successful disinfection of surfaces following an environmental disaster was achievable by using pulsed xenon UV technology. Also, because discarding the non-compromised supplies was not necessary, saving the facility more than $150,000 in sutures alone, we were able to demonstrate the cost effectiveness of this technology.