Decontamination of stainless-steel bowls with 80% (w/v) alcohol for 30 s and 60 s: randomized experimental study.
Melissa Santiloni Montanha Ramos, Patricia Leme Paniguel, Terue Sadatsune and 3 others
PMID 34495188WHAT IT FOUND
After washing, rubbing bed-bath bowls with 80% alcohol for 60 s did not decontaminate them better than 30 s; bacteria, including resistant P. aeruginosa, remained.
Key findings
01After cleaning with running water and neutral detergent, rubbing with 80% alcohol for 30 s or 60 s did not eliminate hospital bacteria from bed-bath bowls.
02There was no statistically significant difference between 30 s and 60 s rubbing (p=0.254).
03Before decontamination, 47 bowls (94%) were contaminated with hospital microorganisms.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The study was done in a single centre and used only stainless-steel bowls in an internal medicine unit. No control group was used to compare alcohol rubbing with thermal washer-disinfectors or disposable bed baths. The outcome was microbiological contamination of bowls, not patient infections. 6 bowls were excluded and replaced. There was no double blinding. The bowl users were bedridden, elderly, and clinically complex, so the results may not apply to all bowl users.
Declared interests
The study was supported by The São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and by FW Indústria e Comércio de Produtos de Higiene, which did not interfere in the research conduct.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the significant bacterial-load reduction as proof of safe decontamination. The bowls still carried hospital bacteria, and 60 s was not significantly better than 30 s.