Avaliação da limpeza de comadres hospitalares submetidas a diferentes métodos de processamento

Abstract

MINELI, T.A. Assessment of hospital bedpans cleaning submitted to different processing methods. 2020. 75 f. Thesis (Master's) -University of São Paulo at Ribeirão Preto, College of Nursing. Ribeirão Preto 2020.The handling of hospital bedpans requires strict hygiene measures to prevent these devices from becoming sources of contamination. The workers involved in the process, however, often overlook the methods and risks associated with the processing of these sanitary utensils. The objective of this quantitative, descriptive and cross-sectional study was to assess the cleaning and disinfection of hospital bedpans submitted to two different processing methods. Data were collected in a tertiary hospital facility located in the interior of the state of São Paulo, Brazil. The results concerning the cleaning and disinfection of hospital bedpans were distributed into two groups: the first set of materials (Group 1) was manually cleaned, followed by disinfection with 70% hydrated ethyl alcohol. The bedpans in the second set (Group 2) were subjected to thermal disinfection without previous manual cleaning. Glo Germ™ liquid was used to simulate contamination by biological material and the utensils were inoculated with 20 ml of the product. The presence of the contamination simulator was assessed by fluorescence in 130 utensils. A protein detection test was applied in 50 utensils and the presence of contamination was found in utensils submitted to both cleaning processes. The number of bedpans visually soiled after automated cleaning (74.2%) was higher than after manual cleaning (53.1%). In total, there were from zero to six areas in each bedpan with the presence of the contamination simulator. A statistically significant difference was found (p=0.003) when both processing methods were compared, the number of clean bedpans was larger among those submitted to mechanical cleaning (46.9%) than those submitted to automated cleaning (25.8%). The presence of the contamination simulator was identified from zero to three areas in each part of hospital bedpans. The number of areas with the presence of Glo Germ was compared between groups. The Mann-Whitney test indicated significant difference on the parts of the blade (p<0.000), seat (p=0.013), and external bottom (p=0.003), revealing the simulator was more frequently found among bedpans submitted to automated cleaning. No significant differences were found between the internal, lateral and external parts and handle. All bedpans seemed clean upon visual inspection, however, two utensils processed in the thermal disinfector tested positive in the protein test. This study's results encourage reflection upon the procedures adopted in the processing of hospital bedpans, indicating a need to review concepts supporting the indication of methods and processing levels based on the classification of health utensils.