Abstract

In recent years the nosocomial infection has been important in hospital administration, preventive medicine and patient's treatment. The author studied several aspects of hospital environment in Seoul National University Hospital from February to September 1979, and the results are as follows: 1) Periodical 3 consecutive examinations of rectal swabs of 63 food service employees were all negative for enteropathogenic organisms including Salmonella and Shigella. 2) HBsAg tests were done for 96 laboratory technicians and 50 central service employees and positive results were observed in 2 laboratory technicians. 3) Periodical biological monitoring of sterilizers was done, using commercial bacterial spore strips. Positive culture was obtained in 2 out of 51 tests for 3 Steam sterilizers and in 4 out of 14 tests for one ethylene oxide gas sterilizer. 4) Product sampling and culture were done for 7 kinds of commercial infusion fluids, 2 kinds of disinfectants and 14 sets of various operation Packages or dressing materials and positive culture was obtained in one disinfectant. 5) Air sampling was done in multiple strategic areas by exposing Standard Petri dishes for 5 minutes. The mean colony count was 8.8±7.8 (1 S.D.) particles/plate/5min.