Evaluation of surgical scrubbing with 2% chlorhexidine gluconate by the vascular surgery staff

Evaluation of surgical scrubbing with 2% chlorhexidine gluconate by the vascular surgery staff.

THESIS: S. M. C. L. Campos submitted this dissertation for her degree of Master in Tropical Diseases at the Botucatu School of Medicine, São Paulo State University-UNESP, Botucatu, São Paulo, Brazil, 2001.

Advisor: Professor Rinaldo Poncio Mendes

^{Address to correspondence}

ABSTRACT: This study evaluated 63 surgical scrubbing procedures using 2% chlorhexidine gluconate by 18 staff members of the Vascular Surgery Unit of the Hospital das Clínicas of the Faculdade de Medicina de Botucatu – UNESP during 15 surgeries. Three hundred and seventy-eight samples were obtained by swabs of right and left arms and forearms, collected before and after scrubbing and after surgery; these were submitted to microbiological exams. Evaluation of scrubbing efficacy level showed that 25 procedures were effective, 23 relatively effective, and 15 ineffective. The most frequent isolated microorganism were coagulase-negative staphylococci followed by Staphylococcus aureus. Scrubbing times ranged from two to ten minutes; this range did not influence effectiveness. Time in the operating room ranged from 43 to 517 minutes and was inversely proportional to scrubbing effectiveness. Fourteen Staphylococcus aureus strains and 51 coagulase-negative staphylococci strains were submitted to molecular typing by pulsedfield gel electrophoresis (PFGE). Eleven Staphylococcus aureus strains showed the same genomic DNA profile, suggesting colonization on hands and/or forearms and lack of residual antiseptic effect. The coagulase-negative staphylococci showed large profile variability, and therefore, molecular typing was of little help in the evaluation of this bacteria route.

Key words: surgical scrub, chohexidine gluconate, vascular surgery, scrubbing time, molecular typing, pulsedfield gel electrophoresis (PFGE), Staphylococcus aureus, coagulase-negative staphylococci.

Publication Dates

• Publication in this collection
  09 Dec 2003
• Date of issue
  2003