Abstract
Objective:
To determine the microbial load of silicone tubes, immediately after cleaning, and at different storage intervals.
Methods:
Experimental study that analyzed silicone tubes from surgical patient care, conducted after approval by the Ethics Committee (protocol no. 1,277,077), from September to November of 2015, with tubes from the Central Processing Department (CPD) of a large general hospital in the West Central region of Brazil. The tubes were segmented (end 1 and 2, and the middle) and were then segmented again, according to established time intervals (zero, 12, and 24 hours). The fragments were filled with sterile water, sealed, and exposed to five minutes of sonication. The water was filtered via 0.45μm Millipore, and the membranes were incubated at 35°C for 24 hours, on nutrient agar. The membranes were removed and placed in test tubes containing 1mL of saline, which were mixed for five minutes, and subjected to a calibrated loop technique.
Results:
An increase in microbial load was identified, in the order of a logarithmic magnitude every 12 hours (p<0.05), in the cleaning and storage conditions provided by the institution, in the experimental and positive control groups, and no difference was identified when comparing the middle and ends of the silicone tubes (p> 0.05) at periods zero, 12, and 24 hours.
Conclusion:
Depending on the initial microbial load, an increase in the order of magnitude can result in sterilization failure, which corroborates the need to not maintain healthcare products in the storage place while awaiting processing.
Keywords
Sterilization; Bacterial load; Surgical equipment