basins from a cardiac ICU and rehabilitation unit, which potentially limits the comparability and generalization of our findings. It is relevant to note, however, that infection-control bathing practices and care and storage of bath basins were standardized throughout the study ICU.
We cannot rule out that potential differences in bathing practices and basin care and storage techniques alone account for disparities in bacterial contamination in these 2 studies.
Although universal precautions were followed, bathing methods were not observed in the comparison study, and basin care and storage were highlighted as a potentially significant source of the high rate of basin bacterial contamination. In our study, we had already implemented standardized bathing practices along with the implementation of CHG bathing. It is therefore unknown whether it was our standardized techniques for bathing patients and for care of wash basins of the CHG in the basin that made the significant difference in microbial contamination.