Evaluation of Bacterial Contamination on Prehospital Ambulances Before and After Disinfection.

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. Farhadloo R, Goodarzi Far J, Azadeh MR, Shams S, Parvaresh-Masoud M. Evaluation of bacterial contamination on prehospital ambulances before and after disinfection.