A peer-reviewed study published in the American Journal of Infection Control revealed a 46 percent decrease in surgical-site infections (SSIs) after a Massachusetts hospital used disinfecting robots in its operating rooms.
In the study, Lowell General Hospital in Lowell, Massachusetts, validated the effectiveness of using pulsed xenon ultraviolet light to disinfect hospital ORs nightly. ORs can harbor difficult-to-kill microorganisms that can cause disease. In the study, lead author Angela Catalanotti, an infection control nurse at Lowell General, said the hospital reduced SSIs during the 18-month intervention period in 2013-14.
Researchers said that by using the UV light in addition to routine chemical disinfection, the hospital avoided an estimated 23 infections. Calculating the figure of $20,785 as the average cost of treating an infection, with a mortality rate of 3 percent, the study sponsors estimated the intervention of intense, pulsed UV light may have saved one life and $478,000.
“Even one infection is too many, and our goal is zero,” said Catalanotti. “We invested in pulsed xenon UV disinfection technology to further bring down our infection rates by destroying the microscopic pathogens that traditional cleaning may have missed. The robots work quickly so we were able to easily incorporate them into our cleaning process.”
Hospital-acquired infections are among the nation’s leading causes of death — the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Infection estimated HAIs are responsible for between 75,000 and 99,000 deaths annually — and are among the top reasons for hospital readmissions. A 2009 CDC report found that HAIs cost the American health system as much as $45 billion annually, and the agency counted nearly 722,000 HAIs in acute care hospitals in 2011.
The study pointed out that even after standard chemical disinfection, many hospital OR surfaces — about 50 percent — remain inadequately disinfected.
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San Antonio-based Xenex Disinfection Services produces the germ-zapping robots, which emanate pulsed UV light in high doses. The light kills many stubborn organisms that resist chemical disinfectants. Xenex said Lowell General is the second hospital to validate the effectiveness of xenon UV light in reducing infections in peer-reviewed studies and is the seventh hospital to report reduced infection rates using Xenex robots.
In an earlier study, Mayo Clinic researcher and Infection Control Committee Chair Dr. Priya Sampathkumar found a 30 percent decrease of deadly clostridium difficile bacterial infection rates in units treated with the pulsed UV light. Sampathkumar plans to present the results of Mayo’s study at a conference of the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology.
The robots, which have been compared to Star Wars’ R2-D2 in size, are wheeled into place after routine nightly staff disinfecting. Once set up, the robots flash the high-intensity UV light throughout the room, killing most germs that the light actually touches. The robots add about 10 minutes to OR room cleaning.
Photo: Xenex Disinfection Services
