Results from a Swedish survey - investigations in operating rooms

A survey is presented with data from 27 operating rooms in four county councils, where air flows, concentration of airborne viable particles and used clothing systems have been given from 111 ongoing surgeries. With the results from the survey, a simple mathematical expression based upon the dilution principle has been established to predict the concentration of airborne viable particles present in the operating room during ongoing surgery. This expression has shown relatively good agreemtn with reported results from ongoing surgery

Contamination risks evaluated with the lr-method in unidirectional airflow at different air velocities

Operating rooms for patients undergoing infection-prone surgery often have unidirectional flow supply air systems. Many systems installed in Europe have low air velocities, i.e. equal and below 0.3 m/s, while other supply air systems have velocities about 0.4 m/s. The velocity, given by the supplier, is mostly the inlet air velocity just below the filter screen of the unidirectional flow system. The purpose of this paper is to describe contamination risks in unidirectional airflow without obstacles at different air velocities. To evaluate contamination risks, the method for limitation of risks, the LR-Method, has been used. The results show that the convection flows and arm movements from a person standing in the unidirectional airflow system have a great impact on the contamination risks at air velocities below 0.4 m/s and that the air velocity should at least be 0.4 m/s to achieve a good protection efficacy

Results from a Swedish survey - investigations in operating rooms

A survey is presented with data from 27 operating rooms in four county councils, where air flows, concentration of airborne viable particles and used clothing systems have been given from 111 ongoing surgeries. With the results from the survey, a simple mathematical expression based upon the dilution principle has been established to predict the concentration of airborne viable particles present in the operating room during ongoing surgery. This expression has shown relatively good agreemtn with reported results from ongoing surgery

Clothing Systems in Operating Rooms - A Comparative Study

The number of airborne bacteria-carrying particles in the operating room is considered an indicator of the risk of infections to the patient undergoing surgery. When the supply air in the operating room is HEPA-filtered, the main source of microorganisms is people (patient and staff). The filtration efficacy of the fabric in operating clothing systems plays an important role. The design of the clothing systems also affects the number of particles emitted from people into the air of the operating room. In ultraclean operating rooms, the selection of clothing systems for the operating team should be considered in terms of patient safety. Examples of clothing systems evaluated in operating rooms will be presented. The predicted influence of different clothing systems in the operating room will be discussed