Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/393931
16 Executive Briefing: Eradicating HAIs OR surfaces, not only did bacterial contaminations on surfaces decrease, there was also a 50 percent decrease in air contamina- tion as well, one case study found. Elimination of human error. Sometimes, housekeepers feel pressure to turn over rooms quickly and may not clean every- thing as thoroughly as they should due to that pressure — they could miss cleaning up to 50 percent of surfaces, according to Dr. Stibich. "Human errors leave patients open to infection risk," he says. "UV light removes human error." For hospitals seeking to add a UV light robot to their HAI-fighting arsenal, Dr. Stibich provides the following tips: 1. Know the technology. "Don't assume everything is the same," says Dr. Stibich. As laid out above, there are major differences between mercury UV light and pulsed xenon UV light that should be considered before a robot is purchased. 2. Make an evidence-based decision. Dr. Stibich recom- mends looking at the available data and studies before choos- ing a particular robot. Specifically, he says officials should examine what the robot has done in real-world settings to reduce the spread of HAIs and clean the environment more effectively. 3. Consider the additional help offered. Implementing a UV disinfection routine will mean a change in workflow for house- keepers and other hospital workers, which could be confusing and lead to the technology being used improperly. "We saw early on, as you put a process in place at a hospital, it's a big deal," says Dr. Stibich. "We don't want to see our robot left in a closet because of operational or logistical problems." So, the company has infection preventionsists on staff who can go on- site to train staff and answer any questions. For hospital officials on the fence about adding UV disinfection to their environmental cleaning repertoire, Dr. Stibich says to look to the facts. "We have the evidence that it will reduce risk and increase patient safety," he says. "Hospitals should be doing ev- erything they possibly can to reduce infection rates. [UV light] has a clinical benefit and a financial benefit. It's really the whole pack- age." n H ealthcare-associated infections are a consistent issue for both hospital patients and healthcare providers. While no single U.S. surveil- lance system can provide estimates of the prevalence of healthcare-associated infections across acute-care patient popu- lations, a recent multistate prevalence sur- vey published in the March 2014 by The New England Journal of Medicine reveals important insight for healthcare providers in their efforts to combat infections. The Emerging Infections Program Health- care-Associated Infections and Antimicro- bial Use Prevalence Survey Team defined healthcare-associated infections based on National Healthcare Safety Network cri- teria, and the prevalence surveys of ran- domly selected inpatients were performed in 183 participating hospitals across 10 geographically diverse states. Survey data along with 2010 Nationwide Inpatient Sample data, stratified according to patient age and length of hospital stay, were used to estimate the amounts of healthcare- associated infections affecting patients in U.S. acute-care hospitals in 2011. Across 183 hospitals and 11,282 patients, 452 patients had one or more healthcare-as- sociated infections. The following list ranks the most common healthcare-associated infections from highest prevalence to least: 1. Pneumonia: 21.8 percent of all healthcare-associated infections 2. Surgical-site infection: 21.8 percent 3. Gastrointestinal infection: 17.1 percent 4. Urinary tract infection: 12.9 percent 5. Primary bloodstream infections: 9.9 percent 6. Eye, ear, nose, throat or mouth infection: 5.6 percent 7. Lower respiratory tract infection: 4.0 percent 8. Skin and soft-tissue infection: 3.2 percent 9. Cardiovascular system infection: 1.2 percent 10. Bone and joint infection: 1.0 percent 11. Central nervous system infection: 0.8 percent 12. Reproductive tract infection: 0.6 percent 13. Systemic infection: 0.2 percent The most commonly reported pathogen was Clostridium difficile, causing 12.1 percent of healthcare-associated infec- tions. Infections resulting from the use of a device, (i.e., central-catheter-associated bloodstream infections or urinary tract in- fections, and ventilator-associated pneu- monia) accounted for 25.6 percent of infections. It is estimated that there were 648,000 patients with 721,800 healthcare- associated infections in U.S. acute-care hospitals in 2011. n 13 Most Common Healthcare-Associated Infections Xenex Disinfection Services manufactures Germ-Zapping Robots™ that use a pulsed xenon UV light to disinfect surfaces and air in hospitals and other settings. Xenex Robots are proven in peer-reviewed patient outcome studies to reduce the level of microbial contamination in the environment 20 times better than housekeeping alone, resulting in reduced rates of hospital acquired infections.