Background
Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are a significant contributor to adverse patient
outcomes and excess cost of inpatient care. Adjunct ultraviolet-C (UV-C) disinfection
may be a viable strategy for reducing HAIs. This study aimed to measure the clinical,
operational, and financial impact of a UV-C terminal disinfection intervention in
a community hospital setting.
Methods
Using a pre-post study design, we compared the HAI rates of 5 multidrug-resistant
bacteria (Acinetobacter baumannii, Klebsiella pneumoniae, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa) from 6 culture sites before and after a 12-month facility-wide UV-C intervention.
To measure impact of UV-C disinfection on hospital operations, mean inpatient emergency
room wait time was calculated. Finally, we conducted a cost saving analysis to evaluate
the financial benefits of the intervention.
Results
Overall, 245 HAIs among 13,177 inpatients were observed during a 12-month intervention
period, with an incidence rate of 3.94 per 1,000 patient days. This observed HAIs
incidence was 19.2% lower than the preintervention period (4.87 vs 3.94 per 1,000
patient days; P = .006). The intervention did not adversely impact emergency department admissions
(297.9 vs 296.2 minutes; P = .18) and generated a direct cost savings of $1,219,878 over a 12-month period.
Conclusions
The UV-C disinfection intervention was associated with a statistically significant
facility-wide reduction of multidrug-resistant HAIs and generated substantial direct
cost savings without adversely impacting hospital operations.
Key Words
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: June 19, 2018
Footnotes
Funding/support: Supported by PHCMC.
Conflicts of interest: R.R. reports to being an officer and employee of PHCMC. K.A. reports to being an employee of PHCMC. C.W.H. is an employee and stakeholder of CSGI. W.T. received funding from Clean Sweep Group Inc. W.T.'s sole responsibility is statistical analysis of epidemiology data from the PHCMC pilot study. He is not a shareholder, officer, or full-time employee of Clean Sweep Group Inc or PHCMC.
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© 2018 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
