Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

67 Executive Briefing From Idea to Standard of Care EOScu is an innovative approach to reducing HAIs, using a proprietary copper-oxide compound that continuously kills bacteria on hard surfaces. EOScu has been proven to reduce the accumulation of bacteria and the risk of exposure to HAIs. EOScu immediately and continuously kills bacteria, resulting in less contamination on surfaces surrounding patients. Because of the savings to hospitals from reduced infections, the investment in EOScu can ultimately pay for itself. With a combination of policies, processes and proven technologies, hospitals and health systems can move closer to the magic number of zero infections. n EOScu EPA REGISTERED PUBLIC HEALTH CLAIMS Laboratory testing has shown that when cleaned regularly: • This surface continuously reduces bacterial* contamination achieving a 99.9% reduction within two hours of exposure • This surface kills greater than 99.9% of Gram negative and Gram positive bacteria* within two hours of exposure • This surface kills greater than 99.9% of bacteria* within two hours and continues to kill 99% of bacteria* even after repeated contamination • This surface helps inhibit the buildup and growth of bacteria* within two hours of exposure between routine • cleaning and sanitizing steps * Testing demonstrates e ective antibacterial activity against Staphylococus aureus (ATCC 6538), Enterobacter aerogenes (ATCC 13048), Methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA-ATCC 33592), Escherichia coli 0157:H7 (ATCC 35150) and Pseudomonas aeruginosa (ATCC 15442). Note: EOScu is a supplement to, not a substitute for, standard infection control practices. Users must continue to follow all current infection control practices, including those practices related to cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces. W e are going through a culture shift. Earlier in my career, the belief was that if you were sick enough to be in a hospital, you were likely to get an infection – because you were sick. Everyone believed that was just a part of being sick and that hospital infections were unavoidable. Now the transition we've been going through over the past 15 years has brought us to a point where we have recognized that most, not all, but most HAIs represent avoidable harm. All of us concerned with infection control have been pounding front line clinicians with the full responsibility of reducing infections: Improve hand hygiene, device day management, antibiotic stewardship. And these interventions have and do make a difference. The problem is that there is a limit to human performance and achieving improvement. It turns out that you can get no more than 102 performance with human-based processes alone. We recognized that we needed to identify technologies to close that gap. To close that asymptote that we all as an industry have been reaching. We have chiseled off the easy first 90%. We are now at a point where the energy expenditure to close that gap is ridiculous and the political and capital loss, the price of doing that with human based processes alone is just not appropriate. As a health system, when we first heard about EOScu, we were at a point where we were looking for a technological solution for closing that gap. Over the past decade, we had twice investigated UV and hydrogen peroxide misters and had decided they weren't going to do the job for us. In that mindset of looking for technological solutions, we were approached by EOS Surfaces. They described a product with strong bench science support as well as the powerful EPA registration for public health claims. We wanted to investigate the clinical efficacy of the product, but under one condition: We would test the product and report the results, regardless of the outcome. These conditions were met, and so we agreed to the clinical trial. After we had the data, we did a business analysis to see the impact of EOScu on the bottom line and whether it made sense to invest in the material system-wide. We did not consider the impact from readmissions that occur with infections, or CMS reduction penalties, or value-based penalties. All we modeled was the easy and clean direct costs, and only of one pathogen: The extra cost of care for C. difficile infections alone. We presented our financial analysis to the leadership team, and I was about half way through my half-hour presentation when the CEO said, "You can stop. This is a no-brainer. We're going to do it." The magnitude of improvement with even that conservative estimate was such that we could easily justify the cost of deploying EOScu throughout the 13 facilities in our system. As a final note, what we did not anticipate was the patient and family reaction. What we discovered was that the use of EOScu was taken by the patient and their families as "putting your money where your mouth is" when it came to keeping them safe. Even our patient surveys improved. We'd hear "We love all your hospitals but we want to be in this one because it's got this stuff" and "I can tell you're doing more than you normally do to keep me safe." This consumer response became part of not the ROI but the VROI: The value return on investment that you can't stick dollars on. That became a significant part of the equation and decision to take the product system-wide as a standard of care. n EOS cu (Cupron Enhanced EOS) is a Preventive|Biocidal Surface™ developed and manufactured by EOS Surfaces. The only synthetic hard surface EPA-registered for public health claims, EOScu con- tinuously kills harmful bacteria* within two hours. Peer reviewed published studies conducted by hospitals show statistically significant reductions in bioburden and statistically significant reductions in both C. difficile and MDRO infection rates. By Dr. Gene Burke, Former VP & Executive Medical Director, Clinical Effectiveness, Sentara Health System

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