In a recent press release, Chesapeake Regional Healthcare saw 12 percent C. diff reduction in a two-year, CDC-funded study.
With the help of a fleet of germ-eliminating UV robots, Chesapeake Regional Healthcare (CRH) experienced a marked decrease in its Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infection rates. After participating in a study on UV disinfection and seeing significant results, CRH has invested in Tru-D SmartUVC to help with its infection rates.
The 310-bed facility was one of nine hospitals that participated in the recently-published Enhanced terminal room disinfection and acquisition and infection caused by multidrug-resistant organisms and Clostridium difficile (the Benefits of Enhanced Terminal Room Disinfection—BETR-D—study): a cluster-randomised, multicentre, crossover study which was published in The Lancet. The two-year study conducted from 2012-2014 is the first and only randomized clinical trial on UV disinfection. In the study, rooms with a known C. diff patient were treated with bleach daily as well as at discharge and had a high 90 percent compliance rate for both manual disinfection processes as well as handwashing. For those rooms in the UV arm of the study, each room was disinfected with a Tru-D SmartUVC robot following manual bleach disinfection.
“We did experience a significant decrease in both infection and colonization rates with all multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) and about a 12 percent decrease in C. diff infections during the arms of the study that included Tru D units and bleach,” said Tiffany Silmon, Director, Infection Prevention and Control at Chesapeake Regional Healthcare.