INFECTION CONTROL
COVID transforms thinking on hospital cleanliness
Maintaining hygiene in hospitals has never been a higher priority, due to COVID-19. Fortunately, there are a number of technologies that are helping medical staff fight back against infectious agents and help safeguard against future global pandemics, explains John Chewins, director of Scientific and Regulatory Affairs at Bioquell.
The COVID-19 pandemic has fundamentally changed the public’s conversations about infection risks and hygiene standards, which continue to be headline topics as a result of the measures taken to restrict the spread of the virus, alongside the vaccination roll-out. People are now more aware than ever of the importance of cleanliness, particularly in healthcare facilities, and its role in helping to reduce the transmission of diseases. Masks, social distancing, and hand sanitisers have all, at various stages, become routine parts of our daily lives; they are the frontline defence against the pandemic. They also play a central role in keeping us healthy. However, what the term ‘cleanliness’ means to the general public, and what it means to hospitals and healthcare professionals, is quite different – and that gap has only expanded over the last two years as the medical sector ramped up its response to the virus.
Help preventing contagion For many people admitted to hospital, the journey starts on four wheels in the
back of an ambulance – an environment potentially loaded with infections from its previous passengers. It is also where patients first encounter an enhanced level of cleanliness; ambulances are regularly sanitised. A patient journey can also start in Accident and Emergency (A&E), and from there into an assessment room, both of which are cleaned on a routine basis. Surfaces, beds, handles, phones, and computer keyboards, along with other touchpoints, will be regularly treated, while floors will be washed. The challenge with A&E and assessment
rooms is that they are difficult to control from an infection standpoint due to their function in emergencies; there is no predicting who or ‘what’ will come through the doors. Other parts of a hospital – wards, treatment areas, lifts, corridors etc. – are no less problematic; the challenges may be different, but the underlying issues remain the same: patient safety and minimising the spread of infectious diseases. However, because these environments are closed off to public access, it is possible to establish a
Hygiene classes
n CLEANING: A process that physically removes infectious agents and the organic matter on which they flourish, but does not necessarily destroy infective agents. Cleaning is an essential prerequisite to ensure effective disinfection or decontamination.
n DISINFECTION: A process used to significantly reduce the number of bacteria.
n DECONTAMINATION: A process that neutralises or removes hazardous contaminants from an area or object to a level suitable for its intended use.
routine, albeit reinforced by ad hoc steps depending on circumstances. The one challenge that sits at the heart of the problem is ensuring cleanliness without disruption to the hospital’s operation, and because certain hospital
The Bioquell BQ-50 is ‘a mobile and robust’ Hydrogen Peroxide Vapour generator that can be used hospital-wide. 72 Health Estate Journal June 2022
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