FIVE TAKEAWAYS

UV DISINFECTION: EVIDENCE-BASED SUCCESS

Don’t just buy UVC equipment – purchase a program and a service

Your UVC vendor should help you customize a cleaning program for your facility. Education of leadership and staff should be offered to ensure acceptance, and your vendor should lead you through discussions with department stakeholders, including infection prevention, environmental services and bed placement. Operator training should include a robust regulatory-compliant curriculum that is well-documented, and your vendor should help with a follow-up plan to promote utilization

and demonstrate success.

The first-ever randomized clinical trial on UVC

light disinfection has proven the technology’s potential. During an August 9th webinar, UVC experts and users discussed how the BETR-D study can help hospitals creating their own evidence-based programs. Cathy Campbell of Tru-D SmartUVC was joined by Florida Hospital Altamonte’s Dan Magnusson and Ralph Taylor of Northside Medical Center, who offered strategies from implementation at their hospitals. The entire webinar can be accessed at www.modernhealthcare.com/EvidenceBased.

UVC devices shouldn’t impact room turnover

Unavailable rooms can be costly. Be sure to compare UVC robot utilization data with scheduling and procedure start-time data to ensure that devices are being used in a way that doesn’t impact room turnover. CNO Ralph Taylor says Northside Medical Center typically schedules isolation cases – including patients with C. diff or MRSA – at the end of the day so that there’s plenty of time to clean ORs and disinfect with measured UVC.

The BETR-D study offers unbiased, peerreviewed evidence that UVC disinfection works

The Benefits of Enhanced Terminal Room Disinfection Study showed that adding UVC light to disinfect patient rooms cut transmission of four major superbugs by a cumulative 30% among patients admitted to the same room. But successful implementation of UVC robots goes beyond just the use of a device. Hospitals should implement an evidence-based, standardized strategy that also includes antimicrobial stewardship, hand hygiene and environmental cleaning. Hospitals should have published standard operating procedures, and staff should be observed regularly for compliance and measurement to ensure bioburden is removed.

ROI comes from reduced infections and avoided reimbursement penalties

Reducing your facility’s annual infection rate for multidrug-resistant organisms by 30% could mean significant cost avoidance, plus the reduction of surgical site infections, which cost significantly more than hospital-acquired infections. The average cost of an HAI is $15,275, while an SSI averages around $25,000, according to the CDC. To determine potential ROI, providers should consider the number of isolation cases that could be opportunities for UVC disinfection, which will aid in calculating utilization and the associated cost of labor.

Measure utilization of your device

UVC robots won’t reduce infections in your facility if they’re not used. Your equipment should collect data on when and where robots are being used, who is operating the devices and the settings they’re using. Comparing this with room-specific infection data will help you refine your program to ensure effective use. Robots don’t necessarily need to be used between every case, but providers should be sure to use the device if a patient with a known pathogen is being treated in the OR.