Identification of high touch surfaces in the operating room and evaluation of the impact of improved turnover cleaning and disinfection.

BACKGROUND

To identify high-touch surfaces (HTS) in the operating room and evaluate the effect of an enhanced cleaning and disinfection protocol on contamination and surgical site infections (SSIs).

METHODS

A 3-phase study was conducted at Sun Yat-sen University Cancer Center. Phase 1 descriptively identified the HTS. Phase 2 assessed contamination levels of identified HTS postprocedure before and after cleaning and disinfection. Phase 3 used a self-controlled design to evaluate the impact of enhanced HTS cleaning and disinfection on SSI incidence.

RESULTS

The HTS identified were the computer mouse-keyboard, door switch, and chairs, with contamination rates of 65.0%, 15.0% and 60.0%. Notably, 20% of chairs and 15% of computer mouse-keyboards exceeded acceptable contamination thresholds. Post-intervention contamination levels significantly decreased for computer mouse-keyboard (median: 1.25 vs 0 CFU; Z = -3.561, P < .001) and chairs (median: 2.25 vs 0 CFU; Z = -3.494, P < .001). A nearly statistically significant decrease in SSI incidence was observed following the intervention (P = .056).

CONCLUSIONS

Enhanced cleaning targeting identified HTS significantly reduces surface contamination. Integrating HTS identification into routine SSI control monitoring and dynamically adjusting turnover clean and disinfection protocol is recommended.