August
2013
Research
published in the August issue of AANA Journal revealed that 96% of Bair Hugger
forced-air warming (FAW) blowers studied were generating “significant levels of
contamination.” The researchers, including two UK orthopedic surgeons,
measured up to 110,000 particles per cubic foot--82,500 particles per second.
More than 70% of the blowers “had hose-end airflows with higher
contamination levels than in intake airflows.”
The
contaminates, therefore, were incubated inside the Bair Hugger blowers.
The
problem, researchers concluded, arises from the blowers’ inadequate air
filtration. Originally designed to provide 93.8% efficient intake filtration,
the current-model Bair Hugger filters perform at only 63.8% efficiency.
This poor filtration, the authors stated, suggests “that inadequate FAW
device intake filtration...led to a significant buildup of internal microbial
contamination in the FAW blowers sampled.”
Air path swabs revealed the presence of viable microorganisms in 100% of FAW blowers. Referring particularly to coagulase-negative staphylococci, the authors noted: “the composition of identified microbes in current-generation FAW blowers favored pathogens associated with surgical site infection....”
The
researchers stated that their findings question the common assumption that “all
forced-air warming [blowers] include filters that essentially eliminate
bacteria in the heated air.” This oft-quoted statement was attributed to
Dr. Daniel Sessler, a member of the Advisory Board of 3M, manufacturer of Bair
Hugger.
To
address these design deficiencies, the authors urged the manufacturer to
redesign the blowers to make decontamination possible, to increase inlet
filtration efficiency to HEPA quality (99.97% efficiency) and to add a filter
at the distal end of the hose.
The full version of the study in AANA Journal can be found at http://d27vj430nutdmd.cloudfront.net/23204/168310/f0896c88a5ca1af8234db8beff0b8bbc663f368c.1.pdf on page 275 of the journal, or 29 of the pdf.
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