Does covering prepared sterile back tables with Innovative Cover better than recommended Two-drape method?

Abstract

Background: Surgical site infection (SSIs) are the most significant postoperative complication. We hypothesized that (1) covering the PSBTs in an operating room (OR) during static and dynamic testing would significantly decrease the bioburden of airborne bacteria-carrying particles (ABCPs) settling on surface of them, (2) using Innovative Cover (IC) would be more effective in decreasing the bioburden of ABCPs than Two-drape method during static and dynamic testing and (3) starting airborne bacterial contamination (ABC) of the uncovered PSBTs during static testing would have longer than the same PSBTs during dynamic testing. Methods: The bioburden of ABCPs of the PSBTs was evaluated by 6 agar settle plates (n= 918 in total) on each PSBT in static and dynamic OR conditions. At each time-point, this set-up was repeated on 2 occasions else during data collection, establishing 81 PSBTs in total. Tested groups included PSBTs covered with Two-drape method, IC, or no cover. Plates were collected after 15, 30, 45, 60, 120, 180, 240 min and 24 h.Results: Covering the PSBT during static and dynamic OR conditions lead to a significantly decreased bioburden of ABCPs on the PSBT (P < 0.05). No differences were seen between recommended Two-drape method by Association of Perioperative Registered Nurses (AORN) and IC (P > 0.05).Conclusions: Our results showed a significant decrease in bioburden of ABCPs on the PSBTs when the they were covered during static and dynamic OR conditions, indicating the efficiency for covering the PSBTs during periods of nonuse and during active surgery. We found that there is no preference for using IC than Two-drape method.