Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-q99xh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-21T21:44:38.177Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Recovery of Surgical Equipment Sterile Processing During a Floodwater Boil Advisory

Part of: Floods collection

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 August 2017

Stephen Shelton Open the ORCID record for Stephen Shelton [Opens in a new window] ,
Jay Hamm ,
Bankole Olatosi  and
R. Ory Johnson
Stephen Shelton*
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Palmetto Health Richland, Columbia, South Carolina
Jay Hamm
Affiliation:
Department of Emergency Medicine, Palmetto Health Richland, Columbia, South Carolina
Bankole Olatosi
Affiliation:
Palmetto Health Richland, Columbia, South Carolina
R. Ory Johnson
Affiliation:
Department of Health Services Policy & Management, Arnold School of Public Health, University of South Carolina
*
Correspondence and reprint requests to Stephen Shelton, Medical Director of Emergency Preparedness, Department of Emergency Medicine, Palmetto Health Richland, 14 Medical Park, Suite 350, Columbia, SC 29203 (e-mail: Stephen.Shelton@PalmettoHealth.org).
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Excessive rainfall and dam failures resulted in floodwater contaminating our public water supply. The endotoxin risk in the contaminated water created challenges in recovery of sterile processing for our surgical equipment. Recovery plans should include a potable water source and a method to connect it to the required location. We share our solution of plumbing our sterile processing equipment to tanker-transported potable water sources. (Disaster Med Public Health Preparedness. 2018; 12: 415–418)

Keywords

endotoxinfloodequipment sterilization
Type
Report from the Field
Information
Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , June 2018 , pp. 415 - 418
Copyright
Copyright © Society for Disaster Medicine and Public Health, Inc. 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. US Geological Survey. 2015 Flood Events. http://water.usgs.gov/floods/events/2015/Joaquin/HolmesQA.html. Published 2015. Accessed October 31, 2016.Google Scholar
2. CNBC. South Carolina Hit by Deadly “1,000-year” floods. http://www.cnbc.com/2015/10/05/south-carolina-hit-by-deadly-1000-year-floods.html. Published 2015. Accessed October 31, 2016.Google Scholar
3. The State Newspaper. SC Floods Damage: $12 billion, Economists Say. http://www.thestate.com/news/local/article47471060.html. Published 2015. Accessed October 31, 2016.Google Scholar
4. NPR. 18 Dams Breached and Death Toll Rises in S.C. Flooding. http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2015/10/06/446352304/s-c-flooding-18-dams-breached-and-death-toll-rises. Published 2015. Accessed October 31, 2016.Google Scholar
5. Breathnach, AS, Cubbon, MD, Karunaharan, RN, et al. Multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa outbreaks in two hospitals: association with contaminated hospital waste-water systems. J Hosp Infect. 2012;82(1):19-24.10.1016/j.jhin.2012.06.007Google Scholar
6. Hota, S, Hirji, Z, Stockton, K, et al. Outbreak of multidrug-resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa colonization and infection secondary to imperfect intensive care unit room design. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2009;30(1):25-33.10.1086/592700Google Scholar
7. Decker, BK, Palmore, TN. The role of water in healthcare-associated infections. Curr Opin Infect Dis. 2013;26(4):345-351.10.1097/QCO.0b013e3283630adfGoogle Scholar
8. Lipscomb, IP, Sihota, AK, Keevil, CW. Comparative study of surgical instruments from sterile-service departments for presence of residual gram-negative endotoxin and proteinaceous deposits. J Clin Micro. 2006;44(10):3728-3733.10.1128/JCM.01280-06Google Scholar
9. Marshall, JC, Walker, PM, Foster, DM, et al. Measurement of endotoxin activity in critically ill patients using whole blood neutrophil dependent chemiluminescence. Crit Care. 2002;6(4):342-348.10.1186/cc1522Google Scholar
10. Gorbet, MB, Michael, VS. Endotoxin: the uninvited guest. Biomaterials. 2005;26:6811-6817.10.1016/j.biomaterials.2005.04.063Google Scholar
11. Wenqiong, S, Ding, X. Methods of endotoxin detection. J Lab Autom. 2015;20(4):354-364.Google Scholar
12. Lieder, R, Petersen, PH, Sigurjónsson, OE. Endotoxins – the invisible companion in biomaterials research. Tissue Eng. 2013;19(5):391-402.10.1089/ten.teb.2012.0636Google Scholar
13. Moesby, L, Hansen, EW, Christensen, JD, et al. Dry and moist heat sterilization cannot inactivate pyrogenicity of Gram positive microorganisms. Euro J Pharma Sci. 2005;26(3):318-323.10.1016/j.ejps.2005.07.003Google Scholar
14. Casey, LC, Balk, RA, Bone, RC. Plasma cytokine and endotoxin levels correlate with survival in patients with the sepsis syndrome. Ann Intern Med. 1993;119(8):771-778.10.7326/0003-4819-119-8-199310150-00001Google Scholar
15. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and American Water Works Association. Emergency Water Supply Planning Guide for Hospitals and Health Care Facilities. Atlanta, GA: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2012.Google Scholar