Monitoring of surface cleaning and disinfection in a Brazilian pediatric unit.

A significant correlation was found between the ATP quantification methods and microbial count in the bed railing ( = 0.009) and companion's armchair ( = 0.018) surfaces. In both cases, Spearman's correlation coefficients were positive, indicating a positive correlation between ATP and microbial count scores, that is, the higher the ATP values (in RLUs), the greater the microbial counts (in CFUs/cm). The analysis of the ROC curves suggests that the surfaces presenting ATP below 108 RLUs can be considered approved. The ATP method yielded 78.6% sensitivity; in turn, microbial count presented a sensitivity of 85.7%. It is important to use different methods to monitor the cleaning and disinfection of surfaces, as each one has different sensitivity and specificity.