Welcome back everyone, to our video blog here at CDC's Project Firstline, Inside Infection Control.
I'm Abby Carlson. I'm an infectious diseases doctor at the CDC,
and it's great to have you back with us today.
We have talked in earlier episodes about cleaning and disinfection;
what each of those do, and why they're so important in healthcare.
You'll remember that cleaning removes dirt and gunk, and some germs that are on surfaces,
and disinfection comes after cleaning and kills those germs.
Today, we're going to focus on disinfection,
and specifically about something called contact time: what it is and why it's so important.
Contact time--and you're also going to hear this called dwell time or wet time--
it's the amount of time that a disinfectant needs to sit on a surface
before being wiped away or otherwise disturbed, in order for it to do its job.
And its job, as we know, is to kill the germs.
There are a lot of germs in healthcare. That's no surprise to any of us.
And quite obviously, we don't want them to spread around to our patients, or to others.
When we disinfect surfaces like bed rails and door handles,
or when we disinfect equipment like stethoscopes and other devices,
all of that is a huge part of infection control.
And that's why it's important to disinfect correctly.
Now, in the United States, we rely on the Environmental Protection Agency (the EPA),
to review the chemicals that are used in the workplace to make sure that they're safe.
Disinfectants used in healthcare should be registered with the EPA,
and the label usually says something like "hospital grade,"
which identifies that product as being one that can be used in the healthcare setting.
We've put a link below to one of the EPA's specific lists, List N (for November),
which is the list of disinfectants that are effective against SARS-CoV-2, our virus that causes COVID-19.
Now, when you're using a disinfectant, it's incredibly important to follow the instructions on the label,
and there are a lot of reasons to do that.
You have to know what the chemical can be used on,
which surfaces it can be used on, before you use it.
You have to know which germs it's been proven to kill so that you're using it in the right place at the right time,
and you need to know if it needs to be diluted,
which means adding water to it to take the concentration down to a safe concentration
and a correct concentration for killing germs.
It's a little bit like cooking, and you want to use the right ingredients and follow the recipe.
But one of the most important reasons for following the label instructions is to know the contact time.
The product that you're using might not kill germs right away.
It actually takes time for germs to react with the chemical, the product,
and get that killing effect on the germs before we can say that something is truly disinfected.
Depending on the product, and the germ that you're targeting,
this time can vary, but it's always specific, and it should be on that label.
If you're using a product that both cleans and disinfects,
it's still going to have a contact time that you need to know.
It's also important when you're doing this not to rush things.
Don't wipe the surface with another cloth before it's dry, hoping to dry it off more quickly.
Definitely don't blow on it with your breath or try to dry it off with your breath,
because you have germs in your breath, unfortunately, that will make it dirty again.
And don't blow air on it in another way, like with a fan, unless the maker of the product says it's okay to do that.
Sometimes you might be in a really dry environment,
and actually the product might dry too fast before the contact time has finished.
There should be instructions on what to do if that happens that the manufacturer gives you.
But in general, most of the time you have to reapply the product.
You have to just put it down again on the surface
and add another layer to meet that full contact time to get the killing effect.
You have to wait for the entire contact time to finish before anything can be used again,
whatever it's used for, or before a new patient comes into a room after a last patient was discharged.
We know that this can be really tough.
We're trying to get people in and out of our rooms and out of places as soon as possible,
and we know that patients are waiting for rooms and waiting for equipment,
and there could be a lot of pressure because of all of that to move fast.
But the risk of spreading germs when you push room turnover or equipment turnover is just too big.
That's why it's so important to make sure your disinfection is complete before you move on to the next patient.
If you're the person doing the disinfection, you want to do it correctly to keep patients safe.
If you're a supervisor or another leader,
your plans for room turnover or equipment turnover
should take into account the time that these products need to work.
And it's important not to rush people to use the product incorrectly just to meet a deadline or a timeline,
you have to set the process up to succeed and to allow your staff to use the products correctly.
If turnover time is a concern, rather than using a product incorrectly,
choose another one, one that works best for the timeline that you need.
So, to sum it all up, when you're aware of contact time,
you can be sure that you're killing the germs the way you're supposed to, and keeping them
from spreading to other patients and other colleagues, and other people in your environment.
Alright, thanks everybody for joining us again.
As always, please follow up with us on Facebook, on Twitter, on YouTube,
and on the web: CDC.gov/ProjectFirstline
We will see you back here for the next episode.