Background: Clashing of surgical visor masks frequently occurs when two surgeons bend over an operative field simultaneously; however, it is unknown whether this results in contamination. The purpose of the present study was to determine the potential for operative field contamination following surgical visor-mask clashes. The nature of bacterial contamination was also assessed. Methods: Thirty sham operative procedures were performed under normal operating conditions for a specified time period. The number of surgical visor mask clashes during each procedure was determined by randomization (0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 6 clashes). All procedures were performed over a standard blood agar plate array. The degree of bacterial contamination was assessed by counting c.f.u. that developed after 24 h of incubation. Bacterial types were also determined. Results: Surgical visor mask clashes resulted in increased contamination of the operative field; however, this was found to be independent of the number of clashes. 95% of pathogens were coagulase negative Staphylococcus species. Other bacteria included Micrococcus species, Bacillus species, Corynebacterium species, various Gram negative bacilli and Staphylococcus aureus (< 1%). Conclusion: Surgical visor mask clashes increase the risk of bacterial contamination of the operative field.

Item Type:	Refereed Article
Research Division:	Biomedical and Clinical Sciences
Research Group:	Medical microbiology
Research Field:	Medical bacteriology
Objective Division:	Health
Objective Group:	Clinical health
Objective Field:	Treatment of human diseases and conditions
UTAS Author:	Tristram, SG (Dr Stephen Tristram)
ID Code:	30880
Year Published:	2004
Web of Science® Times Cited:	4
Deposited By:	Health Sciences A
Deposited On:	2004-08-01
Last Modified:	2005-04-15
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