Control HAIs with Handwash Stations Produced from Antimicrobial Copper Nickel

In healthcare facilities around the world sinks and fixtures made with antimicrobial copper nickel surfaces are becoming part of new patient safety initiatives. Just Manufacturing introduced its first sinks and fixtures made with CuVerro® Antimicrobial Copper Nickel Surfaces in 2012.  Since that time there has been a steady expansion of their line to include more than 100 standard healthcare fixtures, scrub sinks, patient suite lavatory sinks and nurses' handwash stations.

Antimicrobial Copper Surfaces ranked No. 4 on the ECRI Institute’s 2014 Top 10 Hospital C-Suite Watch List. The list highlights new and upcoming technologies and which help solve health systems issues affecting patient safety and cost-effective care.

Extensive laboratory and field testing by the U.S. Department of Defense-funded clinical trials have shown that when cleaned regularly, sinks and other products made from Antimicrobial Copper Nickel kill greater than 99.9 percent of bacteria within two hours, and continue to kill 99 percent of bacteria even after repeated contamination.

Antimicrobial Copper is the only solid surface material registered by the U.S. EPA to continuously kill bacteria that pose a threat to human health. No other solid touch surface, including silver-containing coatings, has this kind of registration.  

In addition, studies conducted at the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York, the Medical University of South Carolina and the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center, both in Charleston, S.C., have found antimicrobial copper fixtures to be an effective addition in the pursuit of infection control.

Antimicrobial Copper Nickel surfaces are being adapted for infection control globally with installations in Asia, Australia, Europe, North America, and South America.

Whether new construction or retrofitting, Just Manufacturing has made adaptation easier through our expanded line of over 100 standard Antimicrobial Copper Nickel hand washing sinks for nurse’s stations, ICU, ER and patient suite lavatories, available in self-rimming, under-mount, and wall hung mounting styles. A complete line of Scrub sinks are available for the surgical suite. 

The use of an antimicrobial copper surface is a supplement to and not a substitute for standard infection control practices; users must continue to follow all current infection control practices, including those practices related to cleaning and disinfection of environmental surfaces. The antimicrobial copper surface material has been shown to reduce microbial contamination, but it does not necessarily prevent cross contamination

*Testing demonstrates effective antibacterial activity against Staphylococcus aureus, Enterobacter aerogenes, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Escherichia coli O157:H7, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

CuVerro® is a registered trademark of GBC Metals, LLC and is used with permission – J-0005-1202.

Source: Just Manufacturing