Implementation of an Environmental Cleaning Protocol in Hospital Critical Areas Using a UV-C Disinfection Robot

Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2023 Feb 28;20(5):4284. doi: 10.3390/ijerph20054284.

Abstract

Improving the cleaning and disinfection of high-touch surfaces is one of the core components of reducing healthcare-associated infections. The effectiveness of an enhanced protocol applying UV-C irradiation for terminal room disinfection between two successive patients was evaluated. Twenty high-touch surfaces in different critical areas were sampled according to ISO 14698-1, both immediately pre- and post-cleaning and disinfection standard operating protocol (SOP) and after UV-C disinfection (160 sampling sites in each condition, 480 in total). Dosimeters were applied at the sites to assess the dose emitted. A total of 64.3% (103/160) of the sampling sites tested after SOP were positive, whereas only 17.5% (28/160) were positive after UV-C. According to the national hygienic standards for health-care setting, 9.3% (15/160) resulted in being non-compliant after SOP and only 1.2% (2/160) were non-compliant after UV-C disinfection. Operation theaters was the setting that resulted in being less compliant with the standard limit (≤15 colony-forming unit/24 cm2) after SOP (12%, 14/120 sampling sites) and where the UV-C treatment showed the highest effectiveness (1.6%, 2/120). The addition of UV-C disinfection to the standard cleaning and disinfection procedure had effective results in reducing hygiene failures.

Keywords: high-touch surfaces; hospital environmental cleaning and disinfection; ultraviolet C light-emitting device.

MeSH terms

  • Cross Infection*
  • Disinfection / methods
  • Hospitals
  • Humans
  • Robotics*
  • Ultraviolet Rays
  • Xenon

Substances

  • Xenon

Grants and funding

This research received no external funding.