INF ECTION P R EVENTION
could be present in a hospital environment. With 37 scientists conducting more than 22,000 tests per year, the research centre is dedicated to the fight against HCAIs.
Multi-levelled approach To ‘outsmart’ infections, the healthcare facility must combine effective cleaning and disinfection solutions, onsite expertise, technology, and training. One without the other will hamper the hospital’s ability to reduce HCAIs. Effective surface disinfectants must be applied in the right way, for the right contact time. Staff should embrace a strong hygiene culture, repeating crucial hand hygiene behaviours and encouraging colleagues to comply. Experts and onsite partners dedicated to infection prevention can critically review current practices and anticipate problems with insights and best practices. Preventive measures, coupled with innovative programmes, can drive quick results. Technology does not only help with cleaning and disinfection, but it also enables consistency and tracking. With innovation, a hospital can expect a higher level of hygiene, achieve consistent standards and use data captured by the equipment to deliver continuous improvement.
The autonomous revolution UV-C light as a disinfectant is a trialled and tested technology in hospitals. Previously, healthcare workers would need to manually set up and reposition the equipment to disinfect a room or ward with the technology, making it resource intensive. A study undertaken in ambulances demonstrated that the disinfection with UV light would require up to 16.5 hours for this small space.4 Speed and efficacy cannot be compromised when caring for millions of patients annually. However, robots are now transforming infection prevention. Autonomous machines are contributing to a drastic reduction in
labour costs as well as HCAIs. One area where the technology could have a significant impact is in the operating theatre. Research has previously suggested that only 25% of critical surfaces in the operating theatre are cleaned successfully to remove pathogens.5
To tackle the
issue, Ecolab has designed a ‘Premium Operating Room Programme’ which includes autonomous disinfection robots using germicidal lighting equipment – developed by UVD Robots and Blue Ocean Robotics. Lack of cleaning effectiveness and growing numbers of elective surgeries backlog have driven the need to introduce innovative solutions. Due to the pandemic, millions of elective surgeries around the world have been cancelled or postponed. In the UK, at the end of November 2020, a total of 192,169 patients had been waiting more than 52 weeks for planned surgery,
whereas in the same month in 2019 the number was just 1398.6
Researchers have
projected that an average of 45 weeks will be required to clear the backlog created during the first wave alone.7
Healthcare facilities need innovative solutions and programmes to drive faster more effective disinfection using less resources, protecting patients and staff from the spread of infections. Using technology from UVD Robots integrated into Ecolab Programmes, hospitals will have access to cleaning compliance improvement coupled with automated robots with state-of-the-art UV-C disinfection technology. The robots are designed to drive improvements in operating theatre availability and general infection prevention advancement. The UVD Robot is a mobile, fully autonomous robot that uses UV-C light to disinfect against viruses and bacteria on surfaces, which is designed to solve the challenges of shadowing and repositioning. Manual cleaning can be combined with autonomous UV disinfection, while Bioquell’s hydrogen peroxide vapour technology can offer an advanced decontamination solution against escalated pathogens such as MRSA, C. difficile and multidrug-resistant organisms – a total decontamination solution can ensure that the entire area is thoroughly disinfected and ready to re-open. Automated hydrogen peroxide vapour decontamination technology can help ensure every exposed surface in an area receives a 6-log sporicidal kill (99.9999% reduction), adding an extra layer of assurance and eliminating the risk of human error during the disinfection process. To help verify each cycle has properly eradicated pathogens in the room, the staff
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