Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) were cut by 20 percent after ultraviolet environmental disinfection (UVD) was added to a hospital's cleaning regimen, a study published in the American Journal of Infection Control found, according to an article on the EndoNurse website.
Researchers discovered that the rate of hospital-acquired infections caused by MDRO and C. difficile (CD) was significantly lower during the 22 months of UVD use compared with the 30-month period before UVD (2.14 cases per 1,000 patient-days vs 2.67 cases, respectively), the article said.
UVD was used for contact precaution discharges, weekly in the dialysis unit and for all burn unit discharges. UVD could be requested for rooms of long-stay patients or for discharges in units with high prevalence of MDRO or CD.
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