Six-Year Evaluation of Decontamination of Respiratory Therapy Equipment

Abstract

All nebulizers in use in a large hospital were decontaminated daily at the bedside by nebulizing 0.25 per cent acetic acid through them for 10 minutes. Other infec- tion-control procedures were to discard residual water or other nebulization solu- tion before refilling nebulizer jars with fresh, sterile solution for therapy, and to change nebulizers at regular intervals. Culture of nebulizers so handled was carried out during the six-year period March 1969 through February 1975, using a tube technique to sample effluent nebulizer gas. After incubation, the degrees of contamination were classified as trace, 1+, 2+, 3+, or 4+. Of the 6,691 samples obtained, 8.13 per cent showed trace or greater contamination. Contamination of 2+, 3+, or 4+ was considered significant, and only 4.89 per cent of all samples fell in this group. Daily nebulization of acetic acid for nebulizer infection control is a safe, simple, effective, economical bedside pro- cedure that any hospital can use.