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 Original Articles |
| Effects of Duration of Scrubbing and Disinfectants on Sterilization of Hands and Forearms of Operating Room Staff |
| Yong Soon Kim, Chi Won Park, Hae Young Jin, Hee Su Jeon*, Un Kyung Lee, Yun Sik Kwak* |
| Department of Nursing and Department of Laboratory Medicine*, Ajou University Hospital, Suwon, Korea |
Vol.28 Num.1 (p41~49)
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Background : The effective scrubbing of hands and forearms of operating room staff is essential for the control and prevention of surgical wound infections. This study was conducted to determine the appropriate duration of scrubbing and more effective disinfectant.
Methods : Forty scrub nurses from the Ajou university hospital operating room were subjected to specimen collection according to following protocols.
1) Baseline study : Ten nursed scrub with 7.5% providone iodine for 6 minutes/6 minutes(6 minutes intial and 6 minutes consecutive scrub, 6/6). Skin swabs were taken from hands and forearms after washing.
2) First study : All scrub nurses were given in-service-education for hand washing for a day after the baseline study. Forty nurses scrub with 7.5% providone iodine and 4% chlorhexidine gluconate for 6 munutes/6 minutes, respectively. On the following day they repeated the same of procedures for 5 minutes/3 minutes(5/3).
3) Second study : Twenty-four nurses followed the same procedures in the first study except that the specimens were collected from below the wrist joint. Identification of microorganisms was done by conventional biochemical studies and vitek automicrobic system.
Results : In the first study, the rate of sterilization for povidine iodine was 70% with 6/6 and 60% with 5/3; and for chlorhexidine gluconate was 90% and 100% respectively. In the second study, the rate of sterilization for povidone iodine was 83% with both 6/6 and 5/3 ; and chlorhexidine gluconate was 100% with both, Both methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus and methicillin resistant staphylococcus epidermidis were disinfected 100% by both povidone iodine and chlorhexidine gluconate. The coagulasenegative staphylococcus aureus was disinfected 100% by chlorhexidine gluconate, but only 66.7% by povidone iodine.
Conclusion : This study indicates that the duration of scrubbing can be reduced to 5 minutes/3 minutes to obtain the desired effect of disinfection. And 4% chlorhexidine gluconate is more effective skin disinfectant.
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Keywords : Sterilization, Scrubbing, Disinfectants |
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