Introduction: The Rhys-Davies exsanguinator is a commonly used tool for exsanguinating upper or lower limbs in orthopaedic surgery. The use of same exsanguinators on a repetitive basis can cause cross contamination. This study was aimed at looking at the contamination of the Rhys-Davies exsanguinators in our hospital and comparing the results after cleaning it with a disinfectant wipe.

Materials and Methods: We used two standard methods to measure the contamination levels of the Rhys-Davies exsanguinators. In first method, we used rapid microbial ATP bioluminescence assay to detect contamination before and after cleaning of these exsanguinators. We did this test at four specified sites (outer top, outer bottom, inside top and inside bottom) after clearly marking them. Our second method was taking samples and using standard agar plates from the 24 sites of these 6 Rhys-Davies exsanguinators. We repeated the assay as well the swabs from all the sites, after cleaning these exsanguinators with Sani Cloth 70 Alcohol Wipes. We incubated these samples at 37 deg cel for 48 hours and kept them in enrichment cultures for 7 days.

Results: All sampled Rhys-Davies exsanguinators were heavily contaminated as revealed by both the methods. On bioluminescence assay, in some exsanguinators the count was 100 times more than normal (acceptable value is 30). Similarly all exsanguinators were colonised with bacterial count varying from 8 to > 350. Coagulase negative staphylococcus was the most commonly grown organism from the exsanguinators. After cleaning these tourniquets with Sani Cloth Wipes, there was 95% reduction in bioluminescence assay and 99% reduction in contamination from colony growth point of view, which is statistically significant (P=0.02).

Conclusion: Nine percent of hospital in-patients are believed to acquire an infection after their admission to hospital. Different organisms can raise different levels of concerns. Coagulase negative Staphylococcus from a skin swab is normal but it can be a major source for surgical site infections. The presence of any number of such organisms around a surgical site can be worrying. The presence of a single colony of other pathogenic organisms such as MRSA, Coliforms or Pseudomonas can be alarming if found on these devices. This study suggests that mechanical decontamination by cleaning with sani cloth wipes, then leaving it to dry completely for 15 minutes might reduce the level of contamination of these devices. Use of rapid R-mATP assay has added strength to our study as it requires only 5 min to complete, including sampling. This screening method can be used randomly to check whether protocols are being properly followed, regarding decontamination of such devices.