— are frequently used to perform meticulous disin-
fection of ORs. They produce airborne hydrogen
peroxide in the form of a vapor or mist, and cover
every surface of the sealed room in which they are
positioned. "The fogger will produce a dry mist of
disinfectant that is only microns in size, which allows
for full coverage of the room without causing damag-
ing saturation," says Mr. Patterson.
1 8 • S U P P L E M E N T
T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • J A N U A R Y 2 0 2 1
In addition to bolstering the use of
whole room disinfection, COVID-19
has caused many facilities to ramp
up their surface cleaning protocols
— and add to their existing cleaning
toolkits. For instance, Matthew
Patterson, system director of envi-
ronmental services at St. Elizabeth
Healthcare in Edgewood, Ky., has
become a big fan of electrostatic
sprayers. These sprayers apply an
electric charge to liquids (cleaners,
sanitizers and disinfectants) as they
pass through the sprayer nozzle.
They physically change the
molecules of the solutions, making
them positive or negative. "This
generates charged droplets that
repel one another and actively seek out
environmental surfaces and objects, which they
stick to and evenly wrap around and
coat," explains Mr. Patterson.
Mr. Patterson is a huge proponent of
electrostatic sprayers because they remove the
risk of human errors during cleaning and
increase productivity by allowing staff to cover
surfaces more efficiently. "One of the things you
need to do when cleaning ORs is mop the walls,
which are typically 600 to 700 square feet." he
says. "It can take four to five minutes to cover
every square inch with a mop. But with an
electrostatic sprayer, I can achieve the same
result in about 30 seconds, and I can guarantee
the wall is 100% clean."
The infection prevention team at Sparrow
Health System in Lansing, Mich., utilizes electro-
static sprayers as well, says Environmental
Services Director Cokela Nicolette Walker, MBA,
LSSGB. "They're a viable cleaning solution for
curtains," she says. "Instead of replacing the
curtains or spending time laundering them to
ensure they're clean, we can disinfect them in
much less time."
Mr. Patterson says if you are thinking about
purchasing some equipment to help with surface
disinfection, you need to ask yourself what is
most important: the need to get the OR cleaned
and ready for the next patient or improving end-
of-day cleaning.
"If your answer is speed and turnover, and
you have a limited budget, I would suggest
going with an electrostatic sprayer, because
you can disinfect a whole room in a tenth of the
time it would take someone to manually clean
it," he says.
— Danielle Bouchat-Friedman
QUICK CLEAN Electrostatic sprayers help facilities on a tight budget disinfect ORs with speed and efficiency.
FAST & EFFECTIVE
Surface Cleaning on Steroids
St.
Elizabeth
Healthcare
