Decontamination: staying vigilant

The Clinical Services Journal spoke to TRACY COATES, president of the Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP) about the role being played by the Association.

The aim of the perioperative practitioner and their team is to ensure that the patient journey is a positive and safe experience. This is a laudable aim but, with pressures on budgets and demanding timescales, is it realistic? The Association for Perioperative Practice (AfPP) maintains that effective decontamination and infection management will always remain a priority, regardless of the challenges. The perioperative period is a critical time. At its various stages, the patient is vulnerable and exposed to potential hazards that can result in harm and add to any physical or psychological stress, leading to delays in recovery. During her career which spans more than 20 years, AfPP president Tracy Coates has been involved in several initiatives to improve patient safety. She believes that education, new regulations and the Association’s own commitment to standards of excellence have helped drive up standards. But as she points out, vigilance is the watchword. Effective decontamination and infection control has to take into account a long list of elements. Procedures govern temperature, humidity and ventilation as well as attire for staff. There are protocols and regulations for “scrubbing and gowning” and for single use or re-usable equipment as well as dealing with sharps, the decontamination of all surgical instruments and the chemicals and equipment for cleaning within the environment and effective surgical techniques and wound management. It is a list of requirements that practitioners adopt daily.

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