Palmetto Health Adds Xenex Germ-Zapping Robot to its Patient Safety Arsenal

Palmetto Health unveiled its newest tool in its patient safety arsenal, Xenexs germ-eliminating robots. The new portable room disinfection system uses pulsed xenon ultraviolet (UV) light that is 25,000 times more powerful than sunlight to destroy harmful bacteria, viruses, fungi and bacterial spores before they can endanger patients. The system is effective against  Clostridium difficile (C. diff), norovirus, influenza, and staph bacteria, including methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Although each room will be personally cleaned by Palmetto Health team members, the robots will be deployed as an additional patient safety measure. The Xenex system can disinfect a room in minutes and is easily portable, allowing it to be used in virtually any location within the hospital, including patient rooms, operating rooms (ORs), equipment rooms, emergency rooms, intensive care units (ICUs) and public areas.

Palmetto Health is the first hospital in South Carolina to implement Xenexs room disinfection device, which is being used by nearly 200 hospitals nationwide. Palmetto Health considers it another tool to add to its patient safety arsenal.

Sangita Dash, MD, infectious disease specialist with Palmetto Health and the University of South Carolina Department of Internal Medicine, notes, Everything that we can do to increase patient safety is a benefit to our patients. We do surveillance for hospital acquired infections and look out for potential transmission of microorganisms in the hospital environment. We are constantly looking to improve methods to prevent them. We are doing everything we can to help keep our patients safe.

A green, mercury-free technology, the Xenex system is the fastest, safest and most effective method for the advanced cleaning of hospital rooms. Numerous hospitals that have implemented the Xenex room disinfection system have documented reductions in the presence of drug-resistant microorganisms and observed a return on investment through operational cost savings. In hospital trials, Xenex has consistently shown to be more than 20 times more effective than standard cleaning practices and a study performed at MD Anderson Cancer Center demonstrated that the Xenex system was more effective than bleach in reducing C. diff. in patient rooms.

Palmetto Health already has a comprehensive patient safety program including larger initiatives like a task force of team members across the hospital system working on national patient safety indicators and smaller components like lobby signs reminding those that have flu-like symptoms to wear a mask and hand sanitizers on every floor including outside each patient room.

Dash says, Everyone has a role to play in preventing infections. This initiative gives us some extra help. She reminds the community that the one thing that everyone can do to help reduce infection is hand hygiene.

The directors of Environmental Services at Palmetto Health hospitals have developed a comprehensive plan so the machines are in use around the clock. Their goal is make sure the technology is used in high risk areas in conjunction with the extensive cleaning services already provided by their Environmental Services team.

The Xenex system has been in place at Palmetto Health facilities since August 2013. In fact, a Palmetto Health team member, James Love, recently set a new record for the most rooms cleaned with one device in a 24-hour period. Mark Ruoff, director of environmental services at Palmetto Health Richland, where Love works, says, We have dedicated him to exclusively using the robots. He takes pride in the work that he is doing as part of our infection prevention team and feels he is making a difference for our patients.

Because the Xenex robot uses UV light, it is able to reach every surface in the room, and it does not leave a chemical residue. Each treatment takes about 5 minutes. To disinfect a room after standard cleaning procedures are complete, hospital team members wheel the Xenex robot into the room, position it beside the bed, begin the automated sequence, and then leave the room. A sign is placed outside the room warning people not to enter while the robot is in operation, and a motion sensor on the robot automatically shuts off the machine if anyone should enter. The process is then repeated on the other side of the bed and in the bathroom, for a total of 15 minutes to thoroughly clean each room.

Source: Xenex Disinfection Services