What are High-Touch Surfaces?
High-touch surfaces can be prime sources for contracting Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs). Door handles, light switches, computer keyboards, tablets and other devices with touch screens, bed frames, bed rails, moveable lamps, tray tables, IV poles, blood-pressure cuffs, medication dispensing machines, pneumatic tube systems, clip boards and paper charts are some examples.12 If these surfaces aren’t disinfected, they could transmit bacteria to healthcare workers’ hands after touching these surfaces and, in turn, healthcare workers could potentially pass these harmful pathogens on to patients.
What is UVC Disinfection?
According to the FDA, UVC radiation is a known disinfectant for air and nonporous surfaces. UVC technology deploys UV light to penetrate the cell walls of spores, bacteria and viruses and renders these harmful pathogens unable to reproduce and spread after treatment with UVC energy. UVC radiation has effectively been used for decades to reduce the spread of bacteria and harmful pathogens. When bundled with manual cleaning and disinfection protocols, the technology significantly reduces patient exposure to HAIs.
How UVC Disinfection Can Help
In today’s healthcare environment – including hyper awareness of virus transmission risk – hospitals need to choose technologies that can be measured and are able to provide the data needed to show proof of UVC dosing and compliance. UVC devices should be easily accessible to high-touch surface areas. Those surfaces need the most direct light to effectively and efficiently rid them of harmful, HAI-causing pathogens.
Choosing the Right UVC System
UVC radiation can only inactivate a virus if the virus is directly exposed to the radiation. If a surface is under a shadow, it won’t be disinfected. Some UVC systems don’t administer the proper dose and miss areas that may contain dangerous pathogens. The right UVC system should measure the delivered UVC dose and have a “pause and reposition” feature that helps operators ensure targeted areas of the room have received optimal dosage to kill harmful pathogens. This technology helps staff quickly disinfect crucial areas and return rooms to service.
Additionally, measuring the delivered UVC does, tracking treatment data, monitoring effectiveness, and sharing with necessary stakeholders is an important function of UVC light technology. Using patented remote UVC sensors and pausing and repositioning the UVC system, helps address variables such as room shape and other obstacles that might prevent areas from being disinfected. The best UVC solutions work to reach all targeted areas within a treated room, including those in shadowed or hard-to-reach places.
Contact us to learn more about using UVC disinfection on high-touch surfaces.
1 Appendix C: Examples of High-Touch Surfaces
2 5 Overlooked High-Touch Hospital Surfaces