More recently, the CDC’s and Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee’s Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Healthcare Facilities divided surfaces into patient care items and environmental surfaces. In 1991, the CDC proposed environmental surfaces (floors, walls and other “housekeeping surfaces” that do not make direct contact with a person’s skin) as an additional category.
#Ntouch electronic logs skin
These categories can be applied to devices or instruments as follows: critical (exposed to normally sterile areas of the body require sterilization), semi-critical (touch mucous membranes may be sterilized or disinfected), and non-critical (touch skin or come into contact with people only indirectly can be either cleaned and then disinfected with an intermediate-level disinfectant, sanitized with a low-level disinfectant or, simply, cleaned with water and soap). The aim of this manuscript is to review the role of high-touch surfaces in healthcare-associated infections, from the aetiology to strategies for surface cleaning and addressing preventive trends.Īs early as 1972, Spaulding proposed a classification of inanimate surfaces into three general categories based on the risk of infection if the surfaces were contaminated at the time of use. The inhibition of microbial adhesion with repellent films is a possible strategy, as it is the surface treatment with antimicrobial coatings of silver, copper, polycations, triclosan, bacteriophages or, even, light-activated biotoxic radicals. On the other side, in order to prevent contamination of HTS, antimicrobial surfaces are being developed.
#Ntouch electronic logs manual
Wipes and cloths with application of detergents or disinfectants are examples of manual techniques, while automated methods may involve UV light, hydrogen peroxide, steam vapour, ozone and HINS (high-intensity narrow-spectrum light). Strategies for cleaning contaminated HTS may include manual and automated techniques. Microbial pathogens most frequently involved in the contamination of hospital environmental surfaces are (methicillin-resistant) Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), Clostridium difficile, multidrug resistant Gramme-negative bacilli (such as Pseudomonas, Acinetobacter and Enterobacteriaceae), Norovirus, Coronavirus and Candida species. Therefore, upon potentially preventable sources of microorganisms, contaminated HTS deserve strong consideration. From surfaces, microbial transmission may occur either through direct patient contact or, indirectly, through healthcare personnel hands or gloves. Additionally, evidence that high-touch surfaces (HTS) will work as an extra source of microbial pathogens accumulated over the years, e.g., several microorganisms can survive on medical equipment for hours to months, improved cleaning and disinfection of surfaces decrease the rate of HAI, and hospital environmental screening results and the study of clonal outbreaks, all have given support to the role of contaminated HTS in the transmission of pathogens between patients and healthcare personnel. Īmong potential sources of pathogens causing HAIs, the most frequent are the patient’s microbiota and the hands of healthcare personnel. In spite of the growing global commitment towards an effective reduction of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), it is unfortunately certain that such infections will continue to be responsible for very high morbidity, increased costs and length of stay (LOS) for the coming decades.
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