Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

6 INFECTION CONTROL & PATIENT SAFETY Why some hospitals are deploying giant 'Roombas' in fight against HAIs By Morgan Haefner H ospitals reported a significant de- crease in seven types of healthcare-as- sociated infections in 2016, according to the CDC's 2016 Healthcare-Associated Infection Progress Report; however, 99,000 Americans still die each year from HAIs. Some companies are aiming to limit HAIs by automating how hospital rooms are disin- fected, according to e Observer. Four things to know: 1. One company, Denmark-based Blue Ocean Robotics, developed its UV Robot alongside Danish healthcare authorities. e giant "Roomba"-like robot vacuum is mobile and uses a UVC light disinfection system to kill pathogens. 2. Blue Ocean Robotics CEO Per Juul Niel- sen told e Observer while the robot is not available in North America, executives are mulling a market entry in 2019. e UV Ro- bot is currently used in hospitals in Europe, Asia and the Middle East. 3. Another company, Tru-D Smart UVC in Memphis, Tenn., produces a disinfection robot called Tru-D that uses ultraviolet light to kill infectious microbes in operat- ing rooms. Aer completing clinical trials at Durham, N.C.-based Duke University Hospital, Tru-D is being used in 300-plus U.S. hospitals. 4. e company's CEO Chuck Dunn told e Observer the robot is not a magic bullet: "Tru-D very significantly reduces the germs and pathogens in any given room, but if doctors and nurses forget to wash their hands, it's all for naught. Health profession- als, at the end of the day, are human beings, and not prone to replicating perfectly per- formed, each and every time, standard disin- fection processes. Human error is a major factor in manual room disinfection — which is why HAIs have proven to be such a major challenge for hospital administrators." n Partners mandates flu shots for all 74K employees By Mackenzie Bean B oston-based Partners HealthCare is requiring all 74,000 employees to receive flu shots for the first time, reported The Boston Globe. Under the mandatory flu shot policy, employees who don't get vaccinated or don't provide a valid reason for skipping the flu shot could lose their jobs. The policy ap- plies to all hospital-based workers, as well as thousands of employees who work at Partners' corporate office in Somerville, Mass. "If you are able and remain unwilling to protect yourself and protect our patients [from the flu], you probably should not be working in healthcare," Gregg S. Meyer, MD, Partners' chief clinical officer, told The Boston Globe. "My sincere hope is that absolutely no one will lose their job over it. … We will do everything we can to convince people." The policy took effect in fall 2018. As of November 2018, 99 percent of employees received a flu shot or an exemption for religious or medical reasons, Partners officials told The Boston Globe. Partners modeled the systemwide policy on a man- datory vaccination policy Boston-based Brigham and Women's implemented in 2017. The Massachusetts Nurses Association sued the hospital in an attempt to block the policy, but was unsuccessful. Brigham and Women's reported a 98 percent vaccination rate during the 2017-18 flu season and terminated five employees for not getting a flu shot, Brigham spokes- person Lori Schroth told The Boston Globe. n 2 people test positive for hep B after sterilization breach at New Jersey clinic By Megan Knowles L awyers for two former patients of Saddle Brook, N.J.- based HealthPlus Surgery Center, which the state tempo- rarily shut down due to poor sterilization practices, said their clients tested positive for hepatitis B, reported the North Jersey Record. The two patients underwent blood tests after the surgery center notified them in December that "lapses in infection control" between Jan. 1 and Sept. 7, 2018, may have exposed them to HIV, hepatitis B or hepatitis C. The New Jersey health department recommended 3,778 past patients of the surgery center get tested. A HealthPlus spokesperson said none of its patients had shown evidence of contracting any of the three diseases from proce- dures at the center. The New Jersey Department of Health, which receives notification of all positive test results for HIV or hepatitis, said it would not release or confirm HealthPlus patients' test results. "We cannot tell when we receive positive lab results whether they represent infection related to the procedures performed at HealthPlus or were acquired in some other manner," a de- partment spokesperson said. "When the outbreak investigation is complete," she said, the department may release a summary of the test results, identify- ing how many positive test results were "related to the infection control breach, unrelated to the infection control breaches or impossible to determine." n

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