In an effort to proactively address the issue of hospital-acquired infections and to bolster its existing strong commitment to patient safety, Pocono Medical Center has invested in a germ-eliminating robot called Tru-D SmartUVC. Pocono Medical Center, a not-for-profit regional leader in healthcare for Monroe County, Pennsylvania and surrounding residents, delivers a full continuum of care from clinical, specialized and acute care services with industry-leading technology and a robust team of over 300 providers and physicians.

"Pocono Medical Center is dedicated to providing the safest hospital environment possible through the adoption of cutting-edge technologies and protocols," said Dr. William Cors, Vice President and Chief Medical Officer at Pocono Medical Center. "Tru-D technology takes an extra step toward hospital-acquired infection prevention while providing confidence for both our patients and staff that we are committed to their safety.

Tru-D provides enhanced terminal room disinfection through the use of UVC light energy. After environmental services staff cleans a room using traditional methods, Tru-D is brought in to complete the disinfection process. The 5-foot-5 robot operates from a single position and administers a single cycle of UV light, killing up to 99.9 percent of C. diff, MRSA, MERS, Ebola and many other harmful pathogens. Short for "total room ultraviolet disinfection," Tru-D takes the minimum time necessary to disinfect an entire room, including shadowed areas. Once the cleaning cycle is complete, Tru-D automatically shuts down and sends an audio and/or text message alert to the operator that disinfection is complete.

Leading researchers and infection preventionists have begun to stress the importance of the use of UV in terminal room cleaning strategies. At the recent APIC annual conference, Dr. William A. Rutala from the University of North Carolina Health Care spoke on the need for no-touch room disinfection methods such as Tru-D.  As more independent studies emerge, including the first-ever randomized clinical trial on UV—the Benefits of Enhanced Terminal Room Disinfection (BETR-D) study – the use of UV disinfection devices will become more widely adopted, if not mandated.

Hospital Safety Scores assign A, B, C, D and F letter grades to hospitals nationwide and provides the most complete picture of patient safety in the U.S. health care system. For the first time, the Hospital Safety Score includes five measures of patient-reported experience with the hospital as well as two of the most common infections, C.diff and MRSA. Grades were recently announced by The Leapfrog Group, the nation's premier advocate for patient safety, naming Pocono Medical Center as one of only 33 hospitals in Pennsylvania to receive an 'A' rating from the Leapfrog Group.

In addition, Pocono Medical Center achieved the Healthgrades 2016 Patient Safety Excellence Award, a designation that recognizes superior performance in hospitals that have prevented the occurrence of serious, potentially avoidable complications for patients during hospital stays. This distinction places Pocono Medical Center among the top 10 percent of hospitals in the nation for its excellent performance as evaluated by Healthgrades as well as among the top 10 percent of hospitals in Pennsylvania by U.S. News and World Report.

The pioneer in UV disinfection, Tru-D was the only device of its kind selected for the first-ever randomized, clinical trial on UVC disinfection because of its Sensor360 technology that eliminates any chance of human error in the disinfection process. Results of the landmark BETR-D study proved that enhanced terminal room disinfection strategies decreased the cumulative incidence of multidrug-resistant organisms by up to 30 percent, and the largest decreases were seen when Tru-D was added to the standard cleaning strategy.

For information and links to independent studies on Tru-D, visit Tru-D.com.

For more information or to learn more, visit poconohealthsystem.org.