Premium
Bacterial contamination of PCA and epidural infusion devices
Author(s) -
Rothwell M.,
Pearson D.,
Wright K.,
Barlow D.
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
anaesthesia
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.839
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1365-2044
pISSN - 0003-2409
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2044.2009.05914.x
Subject(s) - medicine , contamination , keypad , staphylococcus epidermidis , surgery , aseptic processing , asepsis , isopropyl alcohol , handset , vial , bacteria , staphylococcus aureus , chromatography , biology , ecology , chemistry , genetics , organic chemistry , computer science , computer hardware , operating system
Summary We prospectively audited the bacterial contamination of re‐useable analgesia infusion pumps. In a one‐month period, 112 samples from the handset and keypads of our analgesia infusion pumps were cultured for bacterial contamination. Forty‐five percent of handset swabs and 46% of keypad swabs grew bacteria; the commonest organism being coagulase‐negative staphylococcus. An additional cleaning step using 70% isopropyl alcohol wipes was introduced and the contamination rate was re‐audited in 100 samples. The contamination rate was reduced to 6% of handset swabs and 4% of keypad swabs. A high initial rate of bacterial contamination of re‐useable analgesia infusion pumps was significantly reduced by the implementation of a simple, additional cleaning procedure.