Surgical infection control: contamination in the operation room of small animals

Abstract

The hospitalization of ill animals increases the risk of infections. The veterinarian has the obligation to minimize the risk of additional damage that could be subsequent to their interventions and that includes minimizing patient exposure to infections that could lead to a nosocomial infection, considering that, in some cases, the infection can be zoonotic. The main goal of this work was to evaluate the contamination levels in the operation room of small animals of the Veterinary Hospital of the University Center of the Octavio Bastos Educational Foundation (Unifeob), in São João da Boa Vista, SP, and to develop an educational project that focus the critical points that arose in order to maintain surgical infection control in Small Animals. Results show that in the samples took in the surgical environment during the night there is a great risk of fungus growth. In the samples that were taken from the table and floor, the majority of the time, there was fungus and bacteria growth, with the exception of the samples took after surgery, in which case you can say that there was predominant growth of bacteria. It was also observed that the largest number of colonies were found in the plaque next to the operation room door, in comparison to the other doors around the room due to greater transit of people. A positive result was obtained by changing the pavement gloves routine that suggested as a way to decrease the contamination that was found in the gloves immediately before the surgery.