Högskolan i Skövde

Background:Understanding the protective potential of operating room (OR) ventilation under different conditions is crucial to optimizing the surgical environment. This study investigated the air quality, expressed as colony-forming units (CFU)/m³, during orthopedic trauma surgery in a displacementventilated OR; explored how traffic flow and the number of persons present in the OR affects the air contamination rate in the vicinity of surgical wounds; and identified reasons for door openings in the OR.

Methods:Data collection, consisting of active air sampling and observations, was performed during 30 orthopedic procedures.

Results:In 52 of the 91 air samples collected (57%), the CFU/m³ values exceeded the recommended level of <10 CFU/m³. In addition, the data showed a strongly positive correlation between the total CFU/m³ per operation and total traffic flow per operation (r=0.74;P=.001; n=24), after controlling for duration of surgery. A weaker, yet still positive correlation between CFU/m³ and the number of persons present in the OR (r=0.22;P=.04; n=82) was also found. Traffic flow, number of persons present, and duration of surgery explained 68% of the variance in total CFU/m³ (P=.001).

Conclusions:Traffic flow has a strong negative impact on the OR environment. The results of this study support interventions aimed at preventing surgical site infections by reducing traffic flow in the OR.