Tests emphasise need for hygiene vigilance

This has occupied the minds of clinicians and planners from before Nightingale and Lister, and never more so than in the era of MRSA, clostridium difficile and “avian flu”. Staff personal hygiene between episodes of patient/client contact is being exhorted with the vigour of the pre-antibiotic days. Attention is additionally focused on wards, rooms, furniture and instruments.

MICROBIAL TESTING
Appraisals were performed by testing for microbial presence at several locations in each of a GP surgery (Leesbrook Surgery in Oldham) and an elderly residential home (Westcott House, Surrey). Sites were chosen to represent variations in frequency of human contact, frequency of intensive cleaning and relevance to the healthcare process. Thus the sphygmomanometer represents a frequently used and directly health related site; toy bricks represent a less frequently cleaned and healthunrelated site.

TECare is a polyvalent microbiocidal agent bonded to a matrix and presented in an aqueous solution which can be used as a cleansing agent or a surface spray. It is nondamaging to surfaces, whether metal, plastic, wood, painted or fabric. It is nontoxic, non-corrosive, has a similar hazardous specification to distilled water and has passed British Standard 6920 for use in the treatment of drinking water. It is currently used in the passenger aircraft industry to reduce possibilities of crossinfections primarily associated with toilet facilities and the galleys – forced by weight considerations and aircraft design to be sited in close proximity.