The Role of the OR Environment in Preventing Surgical Site Infections

Pathogens are inherently present in thesurgical setting, and several significant health careeassociated pathogens can be transferred from pa-tient to patient, from health care worker to patientor vice versa, and from surfaces to patients orhealth care workers and cause surgical site in-fections (SSIs). These pathogens (eg, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus [MRSA], S aureus,vancomycin-resistant enterococci, Acinetobacterspecies) may survive on environmental surfaces forweeks or months.