Evaluation of Contamination of the Theatre Shoes in the Alborz University of Medical Sciences Hospitals in 2014-2015

Factors such as high work load, high number of staff, high traffic, and patients’ critical condition make this unit one of the regions with very high risk of infection. In order to prevent infection in the operating room, several actions are taken including washing and disinfection of floor, wearing the cleaned and disinfected shoes or cover of shoes. This study aimed to investigate the contamination of shoes in the operating rooms of the Alborz University of Medical Sciences hospitals.
The present cross sectional study was done on 150 shoes of personal in the operating room of the Alborz University of Medical Sciences hospitals. Samples were prepared and cultured. Then result of cultures was interpreted by expert laboratory staff. Data were analyzed by Fisher's exact test, χ2 using SPSS19 software.
As of 150 samples, 11% were non-contaminated and 89% were contaminated. Before washing, 96.5% of the shoes were contaminated. After washing, however, the percent of the contaminated samples decreased to 61.7%.
Due to the high contamination of the shoes, it seems that the type of washing or type of detergent used without disinfecting ability is significant and should be reconsidered and corrected.