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SHEAANE18113a
Disclaimer is pocket guide attempts to define principles of practice that should produce high-
quality patient care. It is applicable to specialists, primary care, and providers at all levels. is pocket
guide should not be considered exclusive of other methods of care reasonably directed at obtaining the
same results. e ultimate judgment concerning the propriety of any course of conduct must be made
by the clinician aer consideration of each individual patient situation. Neither IGC, the medical
associations, nor the authors endorse any product or service associated with the distributor of this
clinical reference tool.
Abbreviations ABHR, alcohol-based hand rub; HAI, hospital-acquired infection; HH,
hand hygiene; ISO, International Organization for Standardization; IV, intravenous; OR,
operating room; PPE, personal protective equipment; USP, United States Pharmacopeia; WHO,
World Health Organization
Source Munoz-Price LS et al. Infection prevention in the operating room anesthesia work
area. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiolog y (2018), 0, 1–17. doi:10.1017/ice.2018.303.
➤ Facilities should require cleaning and disinfection of computer keyboards
and touchscreen computer monitors after each anesthesia case
using a hospital-approved disinfectant consistent with manufacturers'
recommendations. Additionally, cleaning and disinfection should also occur
every time there is obvious soiling or contamination of anesthesia work
surfaces. Facilities should consider use of commercial plastic keyboard
shields, sealed medical keyboards, or washable keyboards and touchscreens
to facilitate thorough disinfection.
➤ Anesthesia providers should follow all institution-specific guidelines when
caring for patients on contact isolation in the OR, including performing HH
and using appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE). Environmental
disinfection should follow recommendations regarding cleaning between cases,
irrespective of an individual patient's multidrug-resistant organism status.
➤ Facilities should conduct regular monitoring and evaluation of infection
prevention practices. To promote adherence, improvement efforts should be
collaborative and should include input from frontline anesthesia personnel
and local champions. Hospital and physician leadership should identify
clear expectations and goals, should ensure data transparency, and should
facilitate use of process measures to improve performance.
➤ Facilities should monitor providers' HH performance and give them
feedback as part of a comprehensive program to improve and maintain
adherence. Insufficient data exist to recommend the routine use of
automated, electronic, or video monitoring and feedback, although
examples in the literature demonstrate efficacy of such technology.
➤ Facilities should utilize measures to assess the appropriateness and
adequacy of environmental disinfection, track the measures, and share
the results with stakeholders to optimize adherence to recommended
disinfection practices.
