Survey of the Hygienic Management of Serving Cart Casters in Japanese Hospitals and Evaluation of Caster Disinfection Using Sodium Hypochlorite-Soaked Gauze

Survey of the Hygienic Management of Serving Cart Casters in Japanese Hospitals and Evaluation of Caster Disinfection Using Sodium Hypochlorite-Soaked Gauze

In Japanese hospitals, the hygienic management of serving cart casters generally involves disinfection by rolling them over sodium hypochlorite-soaked gauze. However, to date no study has examined the details of such caster disinfection. Therefore, we carried out a survey on the hygienic management of serving cart casters and evaluated the effectiveness of disinfection using sodium hypochlorite-soaked gauze. The survey revealed that many hospitals disinfect using the sodium hypochlorite-soaked gauze and sodium hypochlorite spray/washing methods, which expose the disinfection personnel to the irritating odor of chlorine gas and causes health hazards, such as eye and throat irritation. We also found that the concentration of available chlorine in sodium hypochlorite-soaked gauze rapidly decreases within a short time. These findings suggest that the use of sodium hypochlorite-soaked gauze is inadequate and inappropriate for the hygienic management of serving cart casters as it does not provide reliable disinfection and causes health hazards to personnel exposed to chlorine exposure from sodium hypochlorite-soaked gauze.