Impact of Multi-Enzyme Machine Cleaning, Multi-Enzyme Soaking, and Traditional Tap Water Cleaning on the Cleanliness of Blood-Contaminated Hemostatic Forceps

Abstract

Effective cleaning of surgical instruments is critical for infection prevention in healthcare settings. This study compared the cleaning efficacy, efficiency, and resource consumption of three methods, multi-enzyme machine cleaning (Group S1), multi-enzyme soaking (Group S2), and traditional tap water cleaning (Group S3), on blood-contaminated hemostatic forceps. A total of 600 blood-contaminated hemostatic forceps collected from the disinfection supply room of Hebei Medical University Second Hospital between May and October 2024 were randomly allocated equally across the three groups (n = 200 per group). Cleanliness was assessed using ATP bioluminescence, protein residue quantification, hemoglobin colorimetric analysis, and occult blood test strips. Cleaning time and water consumption were also recorded. Group S1 achieved significantly higher cleanliness qualification rates and protein residue qualification rates than both Group S2 and Group S3 (p < 0.01), with Group S2 also significantly outperforming Group S3 (p < 0.01). No significant differences in residual blood rates were observed among groups. Notably, Group S2 showed a significantly higher occult blood positivity rate (15.5%) compared to Group S1 (3%) and Group S3 (3.5%; p < 0.01), suggesting that multi-enzyme soaking may mobilize but not fully remove occult blood residues. Group S1 demonstrated significantly shorter cleaning time (10.56 ± 1.75 min) and lower water consumption (17.14 ± 2.29 L) compared to both Group S2 and Group S3 (p < 0.001). Multi-enzyme machine cleaning demonstrated superior performance across most cleanliness indicators while consuming less time and water, supporting its recommendation as the preferred method for hemostatic forceps reprocessing in hospital disinfection supply departments.