A comparative study on the user satisfaction between two different piezoelectric engines

PURPOSE: The aim of this study is to compare the performance of two piezoelectric engine systems by surveying satisfaction from dental clinicians. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Two piezoelectric systems were evaluated: TRAUS XUS10 (Saeshin), PIEZOSURGERY touch (Mectron). For this study, 20 dentists responded to the 11 questionnaires in which 5 point Likert-type scale was used. The two devices were operated for 10 seconds and measured 5 times to compare the maximum noise values. In heat emission test, the handpiece was operated for 3 minutes and heat was measured at three positions each. RESULTS: TRAUS XUS10 had higher satisfaction level on motor noise (P < 0.05). About function key and handpiece heat generation, PIEZOSURGERY touch showed higher satisfaction (P < 0.05) than TRAUS XUS10. The maximum noise level for each of the devices was confirmed to be 56.6 dB for the TRAUS XUS10 and 56.0 dB for PIEZOSURGERY touch. The two piezoelectric engines satisfied the safety standards with an operation temperature below 41℃ after having been operated for 3 minutes. CONCLUSION: Except for the function key and handpiece heat emission, TRAUS XUS10 has comparable performance with PIEZOSURGERY touch.

Activities of Quality Improvement for Blood Culture at a University Hospital / 대한임상미생물학회지

BACKGROUND: Blood culture is a critical test for diagnosing bloodstream infections. Frequent microbial contamination during sampling and testing leads to abuse of antimicrobial agents. We evaluated methods for reducing contamination and obtaining more reliable results. METHODS: We analyzed blood cultures obtained between 2009 and 2015. We established 6 quality indicators: true positive rate, contamination rate, blood sampling volume, number of sets of blood cultures, delayed transportation rate, and percentage of samples collected from the femoral region, with reference to the CLSI guideline M47-A, 2007. Education was provided for interns and nurses responsible for blood sampling and transportation of specimens, and data were analyzed monthly. RESULTS: At baseline, the true positive rate was 12.8%, and the contamination rate was 4.0%. During the intervention period, these were decreased to 10.9% and 1.9%, respectively. The percentage of samples smaller than 5 mL decreased from 29.7% to 2.7-11.3%. The rate of one set of blood cultures being ordered was always <5%. The delayed transportation rate decreased from 35.6% to 5.5-7.7%. Finally, the percentage of samples collected from the femoral region decreased from 41.5% to 22.0-31.0%, because of which we did not attain our goal, 20.8%. CONCLUSION: The results showed improvements in contamination rate, specimen volume, specimen transportation time, and the percentage of samples collected from the femoral region. The quality management of blood cultures in 2011 was comparatively poor, which led to increased contamination rate, large number of samples containing <5 mL of blood, and increased percentage of samples collected from the femoral region. Thus, quality improvement methods can produce more reliable results of blood cultures.