Read the Annals of Medicine and Surgery article now:
Surgical Infection Retro Study to Forced Air Contamination Risk in the OR
Lange, V. R. (2022). Forced air contamination risk in the OR. Annals of Medicine and Surgery, 73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amsu.2021.102976
ABSTRACT: Forced-air warming (FAW) is a commonly used method of patient warming to reduce patient perioperative hypothermia and minimize associated surgical complications. However, even when properly managed, FAW units may contribute to greater environmental bacterial load and infection risk. A study conducted in 2018, revealed that FAW contamination does occur more than expected in the Surgical Environment. The study demonstrated that 42.5 percent of the 320 samples collected revealed higher than minimum accepted pathogen levels. The present study provided a retroactive-research correlation between samples collected in the 2018 analysis, along with evidence of any associated Surgical Site Infections (SSIs). In the retro-study of these cases, 3.4 percent of OB/GYN, 5.6 percent of colon cases, 1.4 percent of GI cases, and 5.3 percent of amputation cases developed an SSI. Results indicate where FAW is in use, the risk for SSI is present.
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