Monitoring the effectiveness of surgical handwashing in healthcare workers of a fourth level operating room using bioluminescence assays

Juan Jairo Vaca González; Claudia Marcela  Ramírez Espinosa; Ingrid Carolina  Guayan Ardila; Julieth Yadira  Serrano Riaño; Diana Paola  Torres Gil

doi:10.16925/2357-6014.2022.03.08

Monitoring the effectiveness of surgical handwashing in healthcare workers of a fourth level operating room using bioluminescence assays

Research Articles

https://doi.org/10.16925/2357-6014.2022.03.08

Juan Jairo Vaca González Ver Biografía

Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Claudia Marcela Ramírez Espinosa Ver Biografía

Fundación Universitaria del Área Andina

Ingrid Carolina Guayan Ardila Ver Biografía

Fundación Universitaria del Área Andina

Julieth Yadira Serrano Riaño Ver Biografía

Universidad Colegio Mayor de Cundinamarca

Diana Paola Torres Gil Ver Biografía

Hospital Universitario Clínica San Rafael

Aims: To assesses the effectiveness of surgical handwashing (S-HW) in healthcare workers (HCWs) in terms of organic material and bacteria elimination by means of bioluminescence assays.

Methods: 62-HCWs were subjected to bioluminescence analyses to determine adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and colony forming units (CFU) of Enterobacteriaceae (EB) and E. coli before and after S-HW. A checklist to evaluate adherence to hand hygiene (HH) protocol was implemented.

Results: ATP before HH (510.9/RLU) was reduced after S-HW (54.6/RLU), evidencing a significant decrease (p=0.001). Regarding the bacteria, 26.6/CFU and 4/CFU for EB and E. coli were reported before S-HW, respectively. After S-HW, CFU decreased for EB (21.8/CFU) and E. coli (3.5/CFU) without showing a significant reduction (p=0.679). Low ATP did not evidence a direct relation with EB (p=0.082) and E. coli (p=0.680) reduction. Surgical instrument professionals (p=0.001), general surgeons (p=0.001), residents (p=0.017), orthopedists (p=0.029) and otolaryngologists (p=0.029) evidenced a reduction in ATP after S-HW. Factors such as S-HW direction, surgical soap, moments and time of S-HW implemented showed a statistically significant difference in reduction of ATP, but not in CFU.

Conclusion: Although there was a reduction in elimination of ATP, there was no evidence of a decrease in bacteria. This finding not only allowed to identify potential errors in S-HW processes, but also permitted to generate strategies to improve HH to prevent healthcare-associated infections.

Keywords: handwashing, operation room, healthcare worker, adenosine triphosphate, bacteria, bioluminescence

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J. J. Vaca González, C. M. . Ramírez Espinosa, I. C. . Guayan Ardila, J. Y. . Serrano Riaño, and D. P. . Torres Gil, “Monitoring the effectiveness of surgical handwashing in healthcare workers of a fourth level operating room using bioluminescence assays”, ing. Solidar, vol. 18, no. 3, pp. 1–24, Sep. 2022, doi: 10.16925/2357-6014.2022.03.08.

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