The Xenex Disinfection Services’ robots use an intense UV light that is 25,000 times brighter than sunlight to kill harmful microorganisms and reduce germs, and will be used by Baptist Health across the system’s hospitals.
Dangerous pathogens the robots have been able to effectively kill include Clostridium difficile, Ebola virus, influenza, norovirus, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and other types of staph bacteria.
Baptist Health expects the robots will improve sanitation efficiency and effectiveness and reduce unnecessary costs related to hospital-acquired infections, considering they’ve been proven to disinfect 20 times more effective than manual cleaning.
The robots are able to disinfect a typical patient/procedure room in roughly five to ten minutes.
Baptist health plans to target use of the robots to high-risk areas like isolation patient rooms, critical care units and intensive care units during the day, and the surgical and procedural areas at night and during off-peak hours.
Baptist Health Executive Vice President and COO John Wilbanks emphasized the importance of using the robots in conjunction with existing infection control and cleaning procedures.
“These robots provide another added layer of protection for our patients and team members and are part of Baptist Health’s initiative to reduce hospital-acquired infections,” said Mr. Wilbanks. “We have a host of new prevention efforts that include new Vestex protective uniforms for team members and Vestex patient garments implemented recently with antimicrobial/fluid repellent technology to help fight infection.”
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