Hospitals are ground zero for bacteria, viruses, and more. It’s also a place where some of the most immune-compromised people seek care for ailments or injuries. Germs can travel in the air, settle on surfaces, get picked up by our hands or we may be colonized and not even realize it!
Many of you can relate to your kids’ elementary school years when it felt like they came home with some new sickness every week. We are told the best way to avoid getting sick is by staying away from sick people but that’s impossible when you’re in the hospital.
Hospitals’ environmental services (EVS) teams have the tough job of making sure their hospital is clean – against all odds. They have to clean for visible dirt as well as microscopic pathogens (invisible to the eye) that settle on commonly touched surfaces like tray tables, doorknobs, and bedrails.
We know pathogens are getting stronger.
They are developing defenses that allow them to survive antibiotics – even at higher doses, and in some cases, these defenses aren’t activated until they are exposed to an antibiotic. Public health thought leaders say we are on a fast track to a pre-antibiotic era. Integrating cleaning technologies and approaches that go beyond liquid chemicals to destroy dangerous superbugs and help prevent pathogen transmission has become a welcomed addition to the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
Hand hygiene is an important step in preventing pathogen transmission, but those efforts can be undermined if pathogens persist on commonly touched surfaces and medical equipment.
Traditional cleaning alone creates barriers and risks.
Some of the most common are:
- Application and dwell times for liquid chemical cleaning
- Surface type (some require more cleaning friction than others)
- Cross-contamination from other surfaces, rooms, or healthcare worker hands
- Room turnover pressures
Contaminated surfaces are a leading cause of pathogen transmission.
The most commonly sourced research article for hospital room cleanliness showed that only 28% of hospital room surfaces are properly disinfected1. In late 2023 a study uncovered that bleach is no better than using water on hospital surfaces or gowns to kill the hardy spore, C. difficile.
The risk of pathogen transmission increases by 80% if the prior room occupant was colonized or had a known infection2.
Traditional cleaning methods aren’t cutting it.
Hospitals worldwide are integrating enhanced cleaning methods to significantly reduce the number of pathogens that persist on commonly touched surfaces after traditional cleaning, resulting in fewer pathogen transmission incidents and improved hospital cleanliness for their patients and staff.
More than 1,200 hospitals have partnered with Xenex to integrate our easy to execute microbial reduction process that reduces the number of pathogens on commonly touched surfaces – resulting in a lowered risk of pathogen transmission from surfaces to staff and patients. It’s great to see solutions like our LightStrike robots become one of the important tools in the fight against antimicrobial resistance.
Citations: 1) Carling P, et al, Am J Infect Control 2008, vol. 29:11, pp, 2) Carling, P et al. ICHE 2008, 29(1), 1-7, 3) Gu, G. Y. et al., (2023). J Hosp Infect, 139, 44-55
