W
ith public health experts sounding the alarm
about the likelihood of a second COVID-19 spike
this winter in the midst of flu season, whole room
disinfection technologies are becoming more
appealing because manual cleaning alone simply
isn't an effective enough way to fully clean and disinfect the OR.
"Studies have shown that about 50% of surfaces in hospitals that need
to be cleaned are not," says Luci Perri, RN, BSN, MSN, MPH, CIC,
FAPIC, CSPDT, the owner and president of Infection Control Results,
a consulting company located in Charlotte, N.C. "If the surfaces are
not properly cleaned and disinfected, you have a greater likelihood of
a healthcare worker picking up organisms off the surface and poten-
tially transferring them to a patient."
O
C T O B E R 2 0 2 0 • O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y . N E T • 3 1
Whole Room Disinfection
Makes a Whole Lotta Sense
Use high-tech systems to supplement the
manual cleaning of high-touch surfaces.
Jared Bilski | Managing Editor
The reasons for a lack
of adequate surface dis-
infection range from a
variability in cleaning
tactics among environ-
mental services staff to
historically high turnover
in those positions, says
Ms. Perri. Of course, in
many smaller, free-stand-
ing ASCs, nursing staff
clean ORs between
cases. The expanded
safety protocols stem-
ming from the pandemic
have stretched staff thin,
making it more difficult
for them to follow prop-
er surface disinfection
and cleaning protocols.
That's where mobile
ultraviolet-C (UV-C)
devices and hydrogen per-
oxide vapor (HPV) sys-
tems come in. These sys-
tems can eliminate an
array of bacteria, viruses (such
as COVID-19) and fungi, includ-
ing multidrug-resistant organ-
isms. Both of these options have
their advantages and their disad-
vantages, according to Ms. Perri.
Let's look at the pros and cons
of each.
• UV-C devices. Mobile UV-C
devices are wheeled into an OR
and emit short-frequency UV-C
light that effectively breaks up the
bacterial DNA in that space. UV-C
SPOT CHECK Hardworking staff members don't always hit every inch of surfaces during fast-paced room turnovers.
Pamela
Bevelhymer,
RN,
BSN,
CNOR
