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At Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Mass., they'd like to run the
UV robot after every surgery, but studies show that OR contamination in the
room is cumulative over time and increases after the third case. "We're trying to
use it at least at that interval," says Joanne Levin, MD, FSHEA, the medical
director of the department of infection prevention at Cooley.
The Xenex system that St. Cloud uses takes 5 to 10 minutes on average per
room, depending on room size (the robot's UV has a 14-foot radius). Another
leading UV disinfection device, Tru-D SmartUVC, short for Total Room
Ultraviolet Disinfector, usually takes 30 to 40 minutes. After a manual clean-
ing, you wheel Tru-D into the center of the OR, and the robot's sensors gauge
the size of the room and adjust the dose accordingly, says the company.
All UV systems are not created equal. The Xenex has a shorter cycle time of 5
minutes, but a staff member has to reposition the device after an initial cycle,
depending on space and room geometry. With Tru-D, you set it and forget it, but
it takes a bit longer. Tru-D can precisely calculate room UVC dose to compen-
sate for room size, shape, color and contents for proper thorough disinfection,
even reaching surfaces in the shade or in the shadows, says the company. It can
disinfect an entire room, from top to bottom, from a single location so the oper-
ator can move onto other tasks during the disinfection process.
UV light can only disinfect what it touches. UV light travels in straight lines, so
there's reduced efficacy in areas that are out of the unit's direct line of sight.
Having to position a single unit in multiple areas to target several surfaces could
add to disinfection times.
Another important distinction between the portable products is how they cre-
ate UV light. Xenex uses pulsed UV light, while Tru-D and the Clorox Healthcare
Optimum-UV System use mercury bulbs to create UV light. Other systems use
aerosolized hydrogen peroxide, hydrogen peroxide vapor, cluster ions and
ozone gas to target areas your staff might have missed.
Many say UV systems are best suited for terminal cleaning at the end of the
surgical schedule, and occasionally after cases involving high-risk patients with
