Ultraviolet disinfection effectively reduces risk of hospital-acquired infections

A new study published in the American Journal of Infection Control has reported that using ultraviolet (UV) disinfection technology to reduce the risk of hospital-acquired infections eliminated up to 97.7 per cent of pathogens in operating rooms. The study revealed that five-point multisided sampling proved effective for assessing disinfection performance on all exterior sides of equipment which produced significant overall reductions of the microbial burden.

Donna Armellino and associates conducted a study to evaluate the performance of a focused multivector ultraviolet (FMUV) system employing shadowless delivery with a 90-second disinfection cycle for patient care equipment inside and outside the operating room (OR) suite without manual-chemical disinfection.

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The study examined a UV light technology platform deployed by New York-based PurpleSun that can be used for a range of disinfection applications for ORs, patient rooms and other health care settings. Unlike other disinfecting tools, which includes chemicals that can take minutes to inactivate pathogens and at times can leave bacteria on surfaces due to human and product error, PurpleSun reaches multiple surfaces in seconds with UV light. The study found that it all but eliminates human and product error in the proliferation of pathogens that can contribute to the spread of pathogens that contribute to infection.

PurpleSun's focused multivactor ultraviolet (FMUV) device can be deployed to surround equipment on all sides, with foldable partitions whose light hits five different surface points and uses higher levels of UV intensity in 90-second intervals. More than 3,000. microbiological samples following 100 different surgical cases were taken in and around the ORs at three different hospitals in the New York metropolitan area. The observational study is believed to be the first to use five-point multisided sampling in testing the effect of UV disinfection technology.

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"Ultraviolet light technology will not replace manual cleaning and disinfection with chemicals, but it is has a place in health care settings. This technology can optimize environmental cleanliness, resulting in decreased pathogens that could potentially cause infection," said Donna Armellino, RN, DNP, vice president of infection prevention at Northwell Health and lead author of the study, called: "Assessment of focused multivector ultraviolet disinfection with shadowless delivery, using five-point multisided sampling of patient care equipment without manual-chemical disinfection.”

The study concluded that FMUV produced significant overall reductions of the microbial burden on patient care equipment in all study phases and independent of manual cleaning and chemical disinfection.

For full information log on to https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ajic.2018.09.019