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Evaluation of Bacterial Contamination on Prehospital Ambulances Before and After Disinfection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  31 October 2018

Roohollah Farhadloo ,
Jalil Goodarzi Far ,
Mohammad Reza Azadeh ,
Saeed Shams  and
Mohammad Parvaresh-Masoud
Roohollah Farhadloo
Affiliation:
Emergency Medical Center of Qom, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Jalil Goodarzi Far
Affiliation:
Emergency Medical Center of Qom, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Mohammad Reza Azadeh
Affiliation:
Emergency Medical Center of Qom, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Saeed Shams
Affiliation:
Cellular and Molecular Research Center, Qom University of Medical Sciences, Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran
Mohammad Parvaresh-Masoud*
Affiliation:
School of Nursing and Midwifery, Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran
*
Correspondence: Mohammad Parvaresh Masoud, PhD Student School of Nursing and Midwifery Tehran University of Medical Sciences Tehran, Islamic Republic of Iran E-mail: m_parvaresh@razi.tums.ac.ir
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Abstract

Background

The contamination of the environment, ambulance equipment, and staff hands consequently are major factors which create nosocomial infections in emergency patients. The contamination of equipment and devices plays an important role in nosocomial infections.

Objectives

The aim of this study was to determine the effectiveness of a disinfectant on the rate of microbial contamination of ambulances in Qom Emergency Medical Services (EMS), Qom, Iran.

Methods

This is a quasi-experimental study with a before-after design in order to determine microbial contaminations at the rear and front cabin of ambulances, as well as medical equipment being utilized in Qom EMS. Saya sept-HP-2% solution was used for disinfection. Bacteriological standard methods were used to identify the contaminations.

Results

The contamination rates before and after use of disinfection solution were 52% and eight percent, respectively. Coagulase-negative staphylococci were the most commonly isolated bacterial agent from the equipment (53%). In all equipment, the contamination level has shown a significant reduction after applying disinfectant.

Conclusions:

In spite of the fact that the rate of infection from ambulance equipment is high, the results showed that the use of the suitable disinfectant had an effective role in the reduction of bacteria.

FarhadlooR, Goodarzi FarJ, AzadehMR, ShamsS, Parvaresh-MasoudM.Evaluation of Bacterial Contamination on Prehospital Ambulances Before and After Disinfection. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2018;33(6):602–606.

Keywords

ambulancesbacteriadisinfectantsIran
Type
Original Research
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 33 , Issue 6 , December 2018 , pp. 602 - 606
Copyright
© World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 2018 

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Footnotes

Conflicts of interest/funding: This study has been supported by the Qom University of Medical Sciences (grant No: 94573), Qom, Islamic Republic of Iran.

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