The Prevalence of Visible And Occult Blood On Anesthesia And Monitoring Equipment in Operation Rooms of Ahvaz Jondishapur University of Medical Sciences, Educational Hospitals

The blood is one of the most important ways of transmission of nasocomial infections. Diseases such as HBV and HIV are most likely to be transmitted by anesthesia and monitoring equipment in operation room. The assessment of the frequency of blood contamination can be a useful determinant for the level of hazard and possibility of exposing patients and staff to source of infection. Subjects and This study was cross-sectional and performed in December 2009 and January 2010 on 140 samples of anesthesia and monitoring equipment in Jundishapur university hospital operation rooms. The equipments electrocardiograph cables، sphygmomanometer cuff، reservoir bag، pulseoxymeter probe، ventilator control pad، flow meter knobs and laryngoscope blade. Of all the samples 13. 57% were positive for visible blood and 32. 14% of samples were positive for occult blood. The most contaminated apparatus was electrocardiograph cables and the least contaminated was laryngoscope blade. The findings show high level of blood contamination on equipment and identify lack of compliance of established standards regarding disinfection. Recommendations are made to reduce the blood contamination hazards by planning standard for decontamination of equipment، periodic course of infection control practices for staff، using disposable instruments and purchasing well-designed anesthetic equipment.