The 7 Infection Control Needs
The following scale outlines the key touch-points that can be addressed along with the severity of the situation (high to low).
1. Reduce the risk from a specific patient
Case Study: Screening inpatient admissions and deep cleaning using HPV, reduced transmission of Carbapenemase- producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) to very low levels.
2. Address an ongoing incident
Case Study: MRSA outbreak that led to gastroenterology ward closure. UV-C system was used and post clean environmental swabs all came back negative for MRSA.
3. Address a trend in the wrong direction
Case Study: Hospital had increased rates of Clostridium difficile with common entry point identified as the ED, AMU and a Ward. HPV decontaminated these areas and equipment with a 4-month reduction in cases.
4. Reduce the risk to a specific group of patients
Case Study: Cystic Fibrosis patients are more prone to infections, with over 50% of CF patients infected with multi-drug resistant bacteria leading to longer hospital stays and complications. UV-C had significantly better efficacy in comparison to manual cleaning and in most cases resulted in complete elimination of micro-organisms.
5. Reduce the risk from a specific environment
Case Study: To avoid an outbreak of invasive aspergillosis during construction on a general medical ward UV-C decontamination achieved a significant level of reduction of microorganisms without requirement for vapour-impermeable sealing.
6. Improving the overall quality of care
Case Study: An NHS Trust adopted the Inivos RAG-scoring risk-based approach to cleaning and decontamination using HPV in 2 acute hospitals. The result was only 15 post-admission C.diff cases, nearly 50% below the Trust target and the best achievement amongst the other 19 local Trusts with acute hospitals.
7. Improving overall efficiency of the organisation
Case Study: Manual deep cleaning programmes were insufficient to prevent cross-infection by multi-resistant organisms (MRO’s). Identifying firstly the mandating of PPE and strict changing protocols, and secondly the application of HPV decontamination to isolated bed areas, reduced the ICU average patient length of stay by 18%.
