Bedpans are frequently used items in healthcare. Insufficient cleaned bedpans and urinals cause a risk for developing

healthcare associated infections for patients and healthcare workers. There is a risk of contamination of hands and

environment and transmission pathogens by manual emptying, manual cleaning and manual disinfection of bedpans

and urinals.

findings and solutions of the correct use of emptying, cleaning and disinfection of washer disinfectors (WD) for

bedpans (human waste containers).I looked for the following items for my survey in 1990:

In the Netherlands like in many other countries we use washer disinfectors for bedpans and urinals. Washer

disinfectors for bedpans need maintenance and validation to achieve temperature control, cleaning control and

disinfection control. Trough my consulting I noticed a huge differentiation in the practice how to empty, clean and

disinfect the bedpans. It seems an ignored problem even we all know that the content of bedpans and urinals can be

heavenly contaminated with huge numbers of (multi drug resistant) organism. Conform the List of Spaulding (1968) the

bedpan needs low level disinfection because it is in contact with not intact skin or mucous membranes. That is one of

the reasons bedpans and urinals do not get the correct procedure for disinfection. I think every healthcare setting must

guarantee a safe product for the patient.

In 2010 I like to present a poster and write an article about the machinal or manual emptying, cleaning, disinfection and

drying of bedpans. To get more inside in the problem I like:

colleagues to compare the results from 1990 and 2009)

I realize that answering these questions will cost you extra time