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crew might have missed
with their spray bottles
and wipes containers.
Randy Barnes, CHESP,
director of hospitality
services at St. Charles
Bend, has grown fond of
the reassurance the robot
provides. "When you
bathe the room in ultravi-
olet light, you're scrub-
bing the atmosphere, so it
kills everything in the sur-
rounding environment,"
says Mr. Barnes.
Should you join St.
Charles Bend in enlisting innovative new weapons to seek and destroy surface
bacteria? Or is good old-fashioned elbow grease enough to wipe away infection-
causing microorganisms? The choice comes down to convenience, caseload and
cost.
Relying on robots
In January, St. Charles Bend brought in a robot for a 45-day trial. Satisfied with
the results in reducing hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) without impeding
room turnovers, the hospital now intends to invest in 3 more units: one for the
ORs; one for patient rooms on the medical floor; and one to be used as a floater
where it's needed most.
Mr. Barnes expects the robots to reduce HAIs, including cases involving
spores of tough-to-kill Clostridium difficile, by 30%. Such gains won't come free
— each robot has a price tag of $114,000 — but he says the reduction in HAIs
• RUNNING TIME For surgical facilities mulling the addition of a whole-room disinfection
system, the duration of each cycle is a key factor to consider.
St.
Charles
Bend
