Influence of traffic, other factors on OR microbial load

Editor's Note

Movement in the OR is associated with microbial load, this study finds.

Researchers determined areas in the OR with high and low numbers of people in transit and placed air samplers and settle plates in representative locations during 21 surgical procedures, in four ORs, during two seasons of the year.

Temperature, humidity, number of door openings, physical movement, and number of people in the OR were measured for each procedure.

The microbial load was affected by the time of year, and microbial load in one area of the OR was associated with the physical movement of people in the same area but not with the number of door openings and number of people in the OR.

Establishing operational guidelines or developing OR layouts that focus on minimizing movement may reduce microbial load and surgical site infection risk, the authors say.