Keith S. Kaye, MD, MPH; Dror Marchaim, MD; Lauren Bentley, MS

Presented at the 37th Annual Meeting of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC 2010).

The contemporary literature review does not substantiate the Q24hr recommendation. In vitro work performed shows that a significant risk to the patient exists at 24hrs. Survey results showed that although 93% of facilities have a canister change protocol, only 53% of them change the canister on a Q24hr basis. We suggest that more evidence needs to be obtained for generating canister change protocols. Also, facilities should study their suction circuits to identify any associated risk.