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O R
H Y G I E N E
Robotic cleaners give an extra layer of surface disinfection.
Dan O'Connor | Editor-in-Chief
T
hey wheel the trash-can-sized machine into the OR. It
looks a little like R2-D2, only more sinister than the
spunky droid from Star Wars. Punch a few buttons, exit
the room and soon it bathes the OR in pulsed ultraviolet
light, silently killing viruses, bacteria and bacterial spores
on every surface the light touches. In 10 minutes, its job is done and
the OR is ready for the next case, all surfaces and equipment decontaminated.
The Geisinger Health System owns 10 UV light room disinfection
machines. They've named each one. There's Wally and Freda and
Roosevelt. They can disinfect an entire room in as little as 5 minutes.
Are these small but mighty superbug-zapping robots, priced at
around $80,000 apiece, the newest craze in infection prevention?
"What's the cost of an infection?" asks Tamara Almquist, Geisinger's
senior director of environmental and surgical cleaning services.
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O U T PAT I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E O N L I N E | D E C E M B E R 2013
