by Brianna Crandall — January 13, 2016—In a landmark study on the prevention of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), Southern California Hospital at Culver City (SCH) significantly reduced HAIs using an innovative UV-C (shortwave ultraviolet light that includes germicidal ultraviolet) room and surface disinfection service from Clean Sweep Group, Inc. (CSGI).
The study, published in the December 2015 issue of the American Journal of Infection Prevention (AJIC), showed CSGI’s contracted UV-C radiation service reduced the facility-wide HAI incidence rate by over 34%, including a 46% reduction in the rate hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile (“C. diff”).
CSGI technician prepares operating room (OR) for disinfection
“For the duration of the study, CSGI’s service was responsible for maintaining the environmental hygiene intervention, including UV-C technology, implementation protocols, and technicians,” noted the primary author and SCH’s infection prevention director during the study, Nathanael A. Napolitano, MPH.
Leo Williams, CSGI’s CEO, commented, “Our services and process helped SCH save lives and reduce cost associated with reducing HAI’s. The hospital achieved an ROI [return on investment] within two months of implementing our advanced disinfection process, education protocols and technology.”
Mark House, CSGI’s EVP of Operations, stated, “Most hospitals are faced with the challenges of disinfecting enough rooms, rapid room turnover, spending capital funds on emitters with no specific implementation strategies, no knowledge of emitter capabilities, no accountability systems, weak safety features, and limited disinfection knowledge by emitter operators. All of these things lead to an ineffective UV program. CSGI removes all of these issues.”
“At the point of use, Infection Prevention Technologies, LLC UV-C emitters have an advantage over manual cleaning by providing a consistent disinfection result, however there is vast variability in the implementation strategy of these technologies — hundreds of hospitals are utilizing some form of automated disinfection technology, and few are reporting HAI rate reductions,” stated Cody Haag, CSGI’s vice president of Research Development.
Haag continued, “Using evidence-based practices identified in epidemiology literature, CSGI operationalized the strategic deployment of UV-C disinfection technology. This allows our technicians to more frequently disinfect critical pathogen transmission points in a hospital with unprecedented accountability during the process.”
Williams concluded, “We are proud to be the only UV-C service company that combines NexGen technology with smart methodology to improve clinical outcomes for our customers.”
