Decreasing operating room environmental pathogen contamination through improved cleaning practice.

Objective: Potential transmission of organisms from the environment to patients is a concern, especially in enclosed settings, such as operating rooms, in which there are multiple and frequent contacts between patients, provider's hands, and environmental surfaces. Therefore, adequate disinfection of operating rooms is essential. We aimed to determine the change in both the thoroughness of environmental cleaning and the proportion of environmental surfaces within operating rooms from which pathogenic organisms were recovered.

Effectiveness of stepwise interventions targeted to decrease central catheter-associated bloodstream infections.

Objective: Determine the impact of three stepwise interventions on the rate of central catheter-associated bloodstream infections.

Design: Quasi-experimental study.

Setting: Three surgical intensive care units (general surgery, trauma, and neurosurgery) at a 1500-bed county teaching hospital in the Miami metro area.