Issue link: https://beckershealthcare.uberflip.com/i/774606
22 Executive Briefing Hospital Room Decontamination: 5 Questions With an Infection Prevention Expert H ospital room and surface de- contamination has become an increasingly important point of focus for infection preventionists, but that wasn't always the case. A manuscript published in the Annals of Internal Medicine in 2015 noted a "long- standing debate over the relative role the environment plays in the transmis- sion of healthcare-associated infections … both cultural shifts and new studies have elicited virtually polar opinions about the role of the environment in HAI transmission and the role of disinfection in reducing hospital infections." Last year, the CDC called for a re- search agenda to focus on cleaning and disinfecting patients' rooms, since recent studies show that surfaces in the patient's room such as bedrails, bedside tables and call buttons play a role in the transmission of infection from one patient to another, but there is little agreement on best practices for reducing contamination. Here, Ann Marie Pettis, RN, BSN, di- rector of infection prevention at the University of Rochester (N.Y.) Medical Center, answers five questions about how healthcare facilities can approach the issue of room decontamination. Note: Responses have been edited for length and clarity. Question: What challenges do healthcare facilities face when it comes to room decontamination? Ann Marie Pettis: Room decontamina- tion has become a very important focus in the effort to prevent healthcare-as- sociated infections. When I became an infection preventionist more than 30 years ago, we taught people to not wor- ry much about the environment. But be- cause of a preponderance of scientific evidence we now know that indeed, the patient's environment does represent a risk in terms of HAI. Traditionally room decontamination re- lies on the work of human beings. From a human factors engineering stand- point, we know that even when people struggle to achieve perfect results, they often are forced to take shortcuts — it's always well-intentioned, but they get rushed. Despite giving their best effort it is inevitable that areas that should be cleaned will get missed altogether or not receive thorough cleaning. You can have excellent training of en- vironmental services staff, but since they are often the lowest paid in the organization, it is a challenge to find other methods of motivation. This can also result in high turnover, creating a constant need for onboard training. No matter how good your environ- mental services staff are, there will be areas missed during cleaning, so we must add technology to fill in the gaps. Technology, however, often brings a whole other set of challenges to the equation. Q: What steps can healthcare facil- ities take to improve room decon- tamination practices? AMP: You've got to address the gaps you know exist. In all likelihood, it's not going to be one thing but rather a va- riety of things required to improve the outcome. You can't forget about traditional cleaning, however. In addition to staff training, competency checks should be considered. ATP or florescent gel can be used to quantify or qualify what kind of job was done. You might be able to increase motivation of EVS staff by tapping into their competitive spirit by coming up with a contest such as who has the lowest ATP scores for the month. Make it fun for them. Even when you do these things you might also need to look at novel tech- nology such as no-touch surface disin- Sponsored by: One time is not enough Today, when 1 in 3 patients is at risk of an SSI, cleaning your OR just once a day with a UVC system is simply not enough. Make using the R-D ™ Rapid Disinfector ™ , before every procedure, a best practice in your surgical suite. MCV00040632 REV A · Getinge Group Passion for Life, Getinge and Maquet are trademarks or registered trademarks of Getinge AB or its subsidiaries or affiliates. • Copyright 2016 Getinge AB or its subsidiaries or affiliates. • All rights reserved. www.getingegroup.com R-D TM Rapid Disinfector TM UVC System