Evaluation of different monitoring methods of surface cleanliness in operating rooms

Abstract

Objectives: to evaluate different monitoring methods for detecting the presence of organic or biological matter before and after the cleaning and disinfection processes of the operating room.

Methods: this is a cross-sectional study based on visual inspection, adenosine triphosphate levels and microbiological culture for the assessment of cleaning and disinfection.

Results: 93.3% of the surfaces inspected visually for this study purpose were considered clean, even when high levels of adenosine triphosphate and microbiological analysis detected presence of microorganisms relevant to biofilm formation.

Conclusions: the cleaning and disinfection processes reduced the microbial load and organic matter of the inspected surfaces, demonstrated by the values obtained by the adenosine triphosphate bioluminescence assay and microbiological analysis, but the visual inspection as a unique tool to assess the surfaces' cleanliness may give a false impression of clean environment.