Becker's Hospital Review

58 CMO / CARE DELIVERY Coronavirus can remain in air up to 3 hours, on surfaces for days, study finds By Anuja Vaidya T he new coronavirus can remain infec- tious in the air for up to three hours and last on some surfaces for more than a day, according to a study published in e New England Journal of Medicine. Researchers compared the ability of the virus that causes COVID-19 to remain in the air and on surfaces with that of SARS, the most closely related human coronavirus, which killed 774 people worldwide in 2003. ey studied the two viruses in five environmental conditions: aerosols (fine solid particles or liq- uid droplets suspended in air), plastic, stain- less steel, copper and cardboard. Researchers found that the new coronavirus remained "viable in aerosols" — infectious in air — for three hours, the duration of the ex- periment. e virus also persisted on plastic and stainless steel for up to three days and on cardboard for about 24 hours. e virus re- mained on copper for up to four hours. e researchers found that the new corona- virus and SARS behaved very similarly in the five environmental conditions, "which unfor- tunately fails to explain why COVID-19 has become a much larger outbreak," a National Institutes of Health news release about the study read. e reason the COVID-19 pandemic has been much larger than the SARS outbreak could be that people with the new coronavi- rus may be "spreading virus without recogniz- ing, or prior to recognizing, symptoms," NIH scientists said. "is would make disease control measures that were effective against [SARS] less effec- tive against its successor," the NIH stated. n New York hospital closes ORs after state inspection By Anuja Vaidya V assar Brothers Medical Center in Pough- keepsie, N.Y., shut down four of its operating rooms after a routine inspection by the state health department found unsafe levels of humidity, according to a Mid Hudson News report. The humidity levels in the operating rooms were too low, which can affect the shelf life of sterile supplies and the functionality of electromedical devices, ac- cording to 2015 guidelines agreed upon by several healthcare organizations, including the American Hospital Association and Association of periOpera- tive Registered Nurses. The hospital is fixing the humidity problem in the affected operating rooms, a spokesperson told Becker's. Work on one of the operating rooms has been completed and the OR is in full use. The hos- pital is working on permanent fixes for the three other rooms. "If humidity falls below the guidelines, which is often weather-dependent, we don't use these rooms, and our surgery team works closely with patients and families to effectively communicate any delays or needs to reschedule," the hospital said. n The intervention that helped Stony Brook University Hospital reduce C. diff rates By Anuja Vaidya A n intervention that involves four changes to processes helped Stony Brook (N.Y.) University Hospital slash its Clostridium difficile infection rates, according to a study published in The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Pa- tient Safety. The hospital's quality improvement team implemented an ap- proach that involved: • Implementing IT-based alerts to enforce appropriate specimen collection and laboratory testing • Incorporating an antimicrobial stewardship program • Enhancing monitoring when turning over rooms from one patient to the next • Having staff undergo an extensive educational module The study showed the average monthly C. diff rate before the intervention was implemented in 2015 was 11.94 per 10,000 patient days — that is, the number of days the patient spent in the hospital — and that it fell to 7.35 per 10,000 patient days after the intervention was implemented. Average laboratory testing volume decreased from about 290 tests per month to 177 tests per month. n

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