Background
Hospital surfaces are considered important vectors in the spread of nosocomial pathogens.
This study evaluated microbial counts on novel antimicrobial bedrail covers over a
2-week period in a critical care environment.
Methods
Disposable bedrail covers (Aionx Inc, Hershey, PA) made of a copper and silver polymer
and capable of conducting an imperceptible surface potential, were installed in a
case-control manner on a series of occupied intensive care unit beds. Seventeen bedrails
were covered with the study bedrail surface, and 17 were left uncovered. Two hundred
seventy-two microbial surface cultures were obtained from both study and control bedrails
and analyzed for microbial growth by bacterial enumeration and speciation.
Results
The bedrails covered with the study surface demonstrated >80% average decrease in
colony forming units across the study period of 15 days.
Conclusions
These novel, detachable bedrail covers successfully demonstrated significant bacterial
count reduction in an intensive care unit setting. This may have implications for
acquisition of hospital-acquired infections.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: November 20, 2017
Footnotes
Product used in this study and funding for microbiologic evaluation were supported by Aionx Inc, Hershey, PA.
Conflicts of interest: TF and DW are financially supported by Aionx Inc, Hershey, PA.
Identification
Copyright
© 2018 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
