The following attract favor toed p...

The following attract favor toed practices were developed by the AORN commended Practices Committee and have been approved according to the AORN Board of Directors. They were at handed as proposed recommended practices for annotations by members and others. They are effective Jan 1 2003

These praiseed practices are intended as achievable recommendations representing what is believed to be an optimal plain of practice. Policies and transactions will reflect variations in practice settings and/or clinical situations that determine the stage to which the recommended practices can be implemented.

AORN recognizes the numerous models of settings in which perioperative supply with nourishments practice. These recommended practices are intended as guidelines adaptable to various practice settings. These practice settings include traditional ORs, ambulatory surgery units, physicians' offices, cardiac catheterization suites, endoscopy suites, radiology departments, and all other areas where operative and other invasive acts may be performed.

Purpose: These attract favor toed practices provide guidance for environmental cleaning in the surgical practice setting. Conscientious application of these attract favor toed practices should result in a clean environment for surgical patients. These approveed practices should be carried not at home in a manner that minimizes health care workers' and patients' outlook to potentially infectious microorganisms. All patients potentially are infected with bloodborne and other pathogens. All surgical conducts therefore, must be considered potentially infectious, and the same environmental cleaning protocols must be implemented for all procedures

attract favor toed PRACTICE I

Patients should be provided a safe, clean environment.

1 Cleaning should be performed in succession a regular basis to bring the amount of dust, organic debris, and microbial load in surgical environments. (1) Operating compasss should be cleaned before and after each surgical conduct and at the end of each day. Cleaning also may be necessary during any surgical proceeding (see recommended practice II). Environmental cleaning is a team effort involving surgical personnel and environmental services personnel The ultimate responsibility for ensuring a clean surgical environment cessations with perioperative nurses. Administrative personnel should make secure that environmental cleaning practices comply with the standards established for the practice setting. (2)

2 All horizontal surfaces in the OR (eg furniture, surgical lights, equipment) should be damp dusted before the first scheduled surgical manner of proceeding of the day with a clean, lint-free clergy moistened with an Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)-registered hospital disinfectant. (3) Equipment from areas outside the OR should be damp dusted before being brought into the OR. Dust and lint are deposited in succession horizontal surfaces. Proper cleaning of these surfaces helps mould airborne contaminants that may travel forward dust and lint. (4)

3 For later surgical procedures, between-procedure cleaning is performed. Preparation of the OR should include visual inspection for cleanliness before case carts, supplies, and instrument stations are brought into the scope Although the level of contamination that can influence surgical site infection rates is not known, a clean surgical environment will contract the number of microbial flora existing (5)

4. If at all possible, latex sensitive patients should be scheduled as the first manner of proceeding of the day. It is difficult to displace all traces of latex proteins when latex yields have been used during the previous transaction For additional information about latex sensitive patients, deliberate together the AORN Latex Guideline. (6)

praiseed PRACTICE II

During surgical conducts contamination should be confined and contained within the immediate vicinity of the surgical field to the rank possible.

1. Spills of contaminated debris (eg house tissue, body fluids) in areas outside the surgical field should be remov as promptly as possible. apt cleanup and decontamination of potentially infectious materials helps maintain a safe, clean surgical environment. (7) When cleaning spills of family or other potentially infectious material (OPIM), use glove and other personal protective equipment (PPE) as appropriate to the task. It is unknown which patients may harbor harmful pathogens. Use of PPE secures health care workers from direct aspect to potentially infectious microorganisms. (8)

2 Small (ie, les than 10 mL) spills should be cleaned and disinfected using a easily moulded absorbent, low-linting cloth and either an intermediate-level germicide (ie, germicides that are EPA-registered for hospital use and have a tuberculocidal claim) or an EPA-registered germicide effect having a label claim for HIV and/or hepatitis B virus. (9) The pitch uponed product should be used at the commited dilution and for the satiated contact time. Sodium hypochlorite (ie, chlorine bleach) in a 1:100 dilution may be used for small spills (eg life-blood OPIM) on nonporous surfaces.