A P R I L 2 0 1 6 O U T P A T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T 4 7
N
o matter how
thoroughly
your staffers
wipe down
surfaces in
the OR, they're bound to over-
look some spots. That's where
whole-room disinfection comes
into play. The technology doesn't take the place of elbow grease, but it can help
kill harmful drug-resistant organisms and spores that remain on surfaces after
your staff is finished manually cleaning. Not all solutions are created equal, so
determining which is best for your facility demands an understanding of the plus-
es and minuses of each.
Clean air
"Hydrogen peroxide vaporization is the most efficacious and there's the best data
out there on it," says Trish Perl, MD, MSc, infectious disease specialist at Johns
Hopkins University in Baltimore. "But, it is the most expensive option and takes
the longest time, depending on how you use it."
Dr. Perl says staffers at Johns Hopkins clean a patient's room, wheel in 2
portable units and seal up the room's air vents and doors. Once the room is
Disinfect Whole Rooms
At a Time
UV light and airborne
solutions attack surfaces
that manual cleaning
might have missed.
Kendal Gapinski
Associate Editor
• LIGHT THE WAY Ultraviolet robots
reduce contamination on surfaces in
a relatively short amount of time.