Understanding ultraviolet light surface decontamination in hospital rooms: A primer

2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (9) ◽  
pp. 1030-1035 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Boyce ◽  
Curtis J. Donskey

AbstractOngoing challenges in maintaining optimum manual cleaning and disinfection of hospital rooms have created increased interest in “no-touch” decontamination technologies including the use of ultraviolet light (UV). Trials have shown that some UV devices can decrease surface contamination and reduce healthcare-associated infections. Despite substantial marketing of these devices for use in healthcare settings, few data are available regarding the doses of UV-C necessary to yield desired reductions in healthcare pathogens and the ability of mobile devices to deliver adequate doses to various surfaces in patient rooms. This review summarizes the physical aspects of UV that affect the doses delivered to surfaces, the UV-C doses needed to yield 3 log10reductions of several important healthcare-associated pathogens, the doses of UV-C that can be achieved in various locations in patient rooms using mobile UV-C devices, and methods for measuring UV doses delivered to surfaces.

2020 ◽  
Vol 148 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zhenhong Dong ◽  
Na Zhou ◽  
Guijuan Liu ◽  
Li Zhao

Abstract Pulsed-xenon-ultraviolet light (PX-UVL) is increasingly used as a supplemental disinfection method in healthcare settings. We undertook a systematic search of the literature through several databases and conducted a meta-analysis to evaluate the efficacy of PX-UVL in reducing healthcare-associated infections. Eleven studies were included in the systematic review and nine in the meta-analysis. Pooled analysis of seven studies with before-after data indicated a statistically significant reduction of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) rates with the use of the PX-UVL (incidence rate ratio (IRR): 0.73, 95% CI 0.57–0.94, I2 = 72%, P = 0.01), and four studies reported a reduction of risk of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections (IRR: 0.79, 95% CI 0.64–0.98, I2 = 35%, P = 0.03). However, a further four trials found no significant reduction in vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) infection rates (IRR: 0.80, 95% CI 0.63–1.01, I2 = 60%, P = 0.06). The results for CDI and MRSA proved unstable on sensitivity analysis. Meta-regression analysis did not demonstrate any influence of study duration or intervention duration on CDI rates. We conclude that the use of PX-UVL, in addition to standard disinfection protocols, may help to reduce the incidence of CDI and MRSA but not VRE infection rates. However, the quality of evidence is not high, with unstable results and wide confidence intervals, and further high-quality studies are required to supplement the current evidence.


2019 ◽  
Vol 40 (8) ◽  
pp. 904-909 ◽  
Author(s):  
Isabelle Vock ◽  
Sarah Tschudin-Sutter

AbstractIn the past several decades, the incidence of Klebsiella pneumoniae harboring resistance mechanisms against multiple antibiotic agents has increased on a global scale. We discuss reasons for ongoing transmission of multidrug-resistant K. pneumoniae in healthcare settings, which has resulted in the successful spread and establishment of this pathogen. It is now one of the most important causes of healthcare-associated infections worldwide.


Author(s):  
Carla Russo ◽  
Desirée Bartolini ◽  
Cristina Corbucci ◽  
Anna Maria Stabile ◽  
Mario Rende ◽  
...  

Background: Healthcare-associated infections caused by multi-drug resistant (MDR) pathogens are associated with increased mortality and morbidity among hospitalized patients. Inanimate surfaces, and in particular high-touch surfaces, have often been described as the source for outbreaks of nosocomial infections. The present work aimed to evaluate the efficacy of a last-generation mobile (robotic) irradiation UV-C light device R2S on MDR microorganisms in inanimate surfaces and its translation to hospital disinfection. Methods: The efficacy of R2S system was evaluated in environmental high-touch surfaces of two separate outpatient rooms of Perugia Hospital in Italy. The static UV-C irradiation effect was investigated on both the bacterial growth of S. aureus, MRSA, P. aeruginosa, and K. pneumoniae KPC and photoreactivation. The antimicrobial activity was also tested on different surfaces, including glass, steel, and plastic. Results: In the environmental tests, the R2S system decreased the number of bacteria, molds, and yeasts of each high-touch spot surface (HTSs) compared with manual sanitization. UV-C light irradiation significantly inhibits in vitro bacterial growth, also preventing photoreactivation. UV-C light bactericidal activity on MDR microorganisms is affected by the type of materials of inanimate surfaces. Conclusions: The last-generation mobile R2S system is a more reliable sanitizing procedure compared with its manual counterpart.


2017 ◽  
Vol 16 (6) ◽  
pp. 79-83
Author(s):  
N. I. Briko ◽  
O. V. Kovalishena ◽  
R. V. Polibin

The article presents the results of the activities of the National Association of Specialists for the Control of Healthcare -Associated Infections of ensuring epidemiological safety of medical care. Educational projects, development and the statement of federal clinical guidelines, participation in development of criteria of an assessment of epidemiological safety and audit of the healthcare settings for system of ensuring quality and safety of medical care are discussed. Priority tasks to safety of patients and the medical staff, assistance in improving immunization programs and the National Schedule of preventive vaccinations, transition to new risk-to the focused strategy of an epidemiological surveillance and prevention of infections in the healthcare settings are defined.


Author(s):  
Hajime Kanamori ◽  
William A Rutala ◽  
Maria F Gergen ◽  
Emily E Sickbert-Bennett ◽  
Lauren P Knelson ◽  
...  

Abstract We examined microbial burden on hospital room environmental sites after standard (Quaternary ammonium [Quat]) or enhanced disinfection (Quat/ultraviolet light [UV-C], Bleach, or Bleach/UV-C). An enhanced terminal room disinfection reduced microbial burden of epidemiologically-important pathogens on high-touch surfaces in patient rooms, especially sites around the bed better than standard room disinfection.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael J Lydeamore ◽  
Brett G Mitchell ◽  
Tracey Bucknall ◽  
Allen C Cheng ◽  
Andrew J Stewardson

Healthcare associated infections (HAIs) are associated with increased morbidity and mortality, but there are few data that quantify the burden of infection nationally in Australia. We used data from an Australian national point prevalence survey to estimate the burden of HAIs amongst adults in Australian public hospitals. The incidence based appropach, introduced by the ECDC Burden of Comunicable Diseases in Europe was used. We estimate that 155,013 HAIs occur in adults admitted to public hospitals in Australia annually, resulting in 6906 deaths. Hospital acquired pneumonia is the most frequent HAI, followed by surgical site infections, and urinary tract infections. We find that blood stream infections contribute a small percentage of HAIs, but contribute the highest number of deaths (3207), more than twice that of the second largest, while pneumonia has the highert impact on years lived with disability. This study is the first time the national burden of HAIs has been estimated for Australia from point prevalence data. The estimated burden is high, and highlights the need for continued investment in HAI prevention.


Author(s):  
Amanda Sivek ◽  
Erin Sparnon ◽  
Patrice D Tremoulet

Effective hand hygiene among clinicians decreases the incidence of healthcare-associated infections and helps slow the rate of antibiotic resistance, but hand hygiene compliance (HHC) rates among clinicians is often low. Facility-wide HHC monitoring is required by the U.S. Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services. In general, HHC monitoring is important to identify facility care areas, units or departments that have low HHC rates so that targeted interventions can be implemented. Recently several hand hygiene observation apps (HHOA), which enable observers to use mobile devices to record HHC data, have become available. The overall goal of our effort was to evaluate how helpful five different HHOAs were in supporting users in collecting and aggregating HHC data. Overall our participants, which included nine individuals with clinical training, and eight biomedical engineers found that all five HHOAs were fairly hard to use given that they have a relatively simple and straightforward function. There was an interesting interaction, however, with the biomedical engineers rating highest the HHOAs that the clinically-trained users rated lowest.


2017 ◽  
Vol 4 (6) ◽  
pp. 171-191 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nursel Calik Basaran ◽  
Sibel Ascioglu

Advancements in medicine have led to a considerable increase in the proportion of patients living with severe chronic diseases, malignancies, and HIV infections. Most of these conditions are associated with acquired immune-deficient states and treatment-related immunosuppression. Although infections as a result of neutropenia have long been recognized and strategies for management were developed, non-neutropenic immunosuppression has been overlooked. Recently, community-acquired infections in patients with frequent, significant exposure to healthcare settings and procedures have been classified as ‘healthcare-associated infections’ since they are more similar to hospital-acquired infections. Most of the non-neutropenic immunosuppressed patients have frequent contact with the healthcare system due to their chronic and severe diseases. In this review, we focus on the healthcare-associated bloodstream infections in the most common non-neutropenic immunosuppressive states and provide an update of the recent evidence for the management of these infections.


2012 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 365 ◽  
Author(s):  
Brett G. Mitchell ◽  
Anne Gardner ◽  
Alistair McGregor

Healthcare settings are dangerous places. For those receiving care, the risk of unintended harm from healthcare failures continues to be significant. Given this, there is a need to monitor standards in healthcare, not only to identify potential issues, but also to plan and evaluate interventions aimed at improving healthcare standards. Public reporting of performance standards is one aspect to monitoring standards, but not the only one. Public reporting also brings with it challenges. This perspective explores the recent move to publicly report one healthcare-associated infection (HAI) on the MyHospitals website and comments on the broader issue of using existing HAI data for the purposes of public reporting.


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