Background: In 2014, the Italian Study Group of Hospital Hygiene of the Italian Society of Hygiene, Preventive Medicine and Public Health (GISIO-SItI), in collaboration with the National Association of Medical Hospital Managers (ANMDO), conducted a survey on the availability of procedures for cleaning and disinfecting ambulances in order to assess the practices in use.
Methods: An online questionnaire was prepared through the Survey Monkey® platform and a web link access was sent to a convenience sample of ANMDO doctors working in healthcare management in public and private healthcare facilities.
Results: Ninety-six questionnaires were collected (26% response rate). In 73% of cases there was a procedure for cleaning and disinfecting ambulances, which had been produced at a company level (67%) and involved various professionals. In 21% of cases the procedure had been prepared in expectation of an epidemic or following an epidemic (5%). The recommendations had been presented to the staff (90%), in 28% of cases through training events with verification of the knowledge acquired. Monitoring of the implementation of the procedure is planned in the majority of cases (88%), mainly through direct observation (92%). In 67% of cases the tender specifications for ambulance services did not include a section dedicated to cleaning and disinfection and, in the absence of a procedure, this was provided by the hospital in only 51% of case.
Conclusion: This survey represented a first step towards the development of guidelines for standardising procedures and providing indications useful for their evaluation and monitoring their implementation.
Keywords: Ambulances; Cleaning and disinfection; Infection control; Procedures.