Looking for the needle in the haystack: bioluminescence and culture media as a combined approached to evaluate microbial load in ICUs of a Brazilian megalopolis

Hospital-acquired infections are one of the leading causes of mortality, and their source can be the environment itself.Proper monitoring of cleaning quality in ICUs has been used in specific situations.In Brazil, hospitals are committed to reporting cases of infection and microbial resistance, yet validations of environments have been recommended.In order to evaluate the luminometer, five surfaces in the ICU of a public hospital in São Paulo were monitored using RODAC® plates as a standard.Spearman correlation and ROC curve analyses were used for statistical analysis; however, these analyses did not show significance.Nonetheless, using the A NOVA methodology, they were validated with significance ≤ 0.001.From this study, we conclude that some surfaces are more susceptible to dirt accumulation, requiring greater control over the frequency and methodology of cleaning, and that the methodology used for this monitoring can be one of the methods utilized or the use of both when possible, resulting in continuous improvement.