Category: HAI: Disinfection/Sterilization & Environmental Infection Prevention

Poster Session: HAI: Disinfection/Sterilization & Environmental Infection Prevention

818 - Healthcare Worker Feedback Regarding the Implementation of a New Disinfection Tracking System

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Presenting Author(s)

Hector E. Ramirez

Infectious Disease Fellow
Baylor Scott & White Hospital
Temple, Texas
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.

Co-Author(s)

MW

Marjory D. Williams

Associate Chief Nurse Research
CTVHCS
Temple, Texas
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
JulieAnn Martel

Research Assistant
Central Texas Veterans Health Care System
Temple, Texas
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Piyali Chatterjee

Senior Research Scientist
Central Texas Veterans Health Care System
Temple, Texas
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Hosoon Choi

Senior Research Scientist
Central Texas Veterans Health Care System
Temple, Texas
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
JC

John David. Coppin

Biostatistician
Central Texas Veterans Health Care System
Temple, Texas
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Patrick Crowley

Medical Resident
Baylor Scott & White Hospital
Temple, TX
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
SS

Sarah Simmons

Senior Director of Science
Xenex Disinfection Services
San Antonio, Texas
Disclosure: Xenex Disinfection Services (Employee, Shareholder)
MS

Mark Stibich

Co-Founder of Xenex Germ-Zapping Robots
Xenex Germ-Zapping Robots
San Antonio, Texas
Disclosure: Xenex Germ-Zapping Robots (Board Member, Grant/Research Support)
DP

Deborah G. Passey

Researcher
NA
Salt Lake City, Utah
Disclosure: I do not have any relevant financial / non-financial relationships with any proprietary interests.
Chetan Jinadatha

Chief, Infectious Diseases Section
Central Texas Veterans Health Care System
Temple, Texas
Disclosure: AHRQ (Research Grant or Support)Department of Veterans Affairs (Other Financial or Material Support, Owner: Department of Veterans Affairs. Licensed to: Xenex Disinfection System, San Antonio, TX)Inventor (Other Financial or Material Support, Methods for organizing the disinfection of one or more items contaminated with biological agents)NiH/NINR (Research Grant or Support)NSF (Research Grant or Support)Xenex Healthcare Services (Research Grant or Support)

Background: Tracking of disinfection of portable medical equipment (PME) and demonstration of compliance with PME disinfection policies can be difficult to demonstrate. A Disinfection Tracking System (DTS) was implemented in our hospital to assess the impact of such a system on the disinfection events of PME and its ability to capture disinfection events. The DTS system improved the total disinfection events as well as disinfection events on commonly used items such as Computer-on-wheels (COWs) and vitals machine (VM) (Figures 1 & 2). Here we present a summary of healthcare workers’ (HCWs) opinions about the implementation of the DTS system in their routine work flow.Image of DTS Mounted on a Computer-on-Wheel

Image of a DTS Mounted on a Vitals Machine

Methods: The study was conducted on two medical-surgical acute care units in Temple, TX Veterans Affairs hospital. The DTS devices were equipped with sensors to detect moisture events corresponding to disinfection. A display on the device indicated the last time the PME was disinfected. Opinions were obtained after the 10-week study period through a survey and facilitated group discussions between frontline HCWs and managers who had encountered the DTS during their daily work routine. The survey measured level of agreement with 13 items on a Likert-type scale system ranging from one (least agreement) to ten (most agreement).Disinfection Tracking System with Screen Displaying Time Since Last Disinfection

Results: A total of 17 surveys were completed. The lowest mean agreement score was 5.1 for the statement - the DTS system display corresponds to a real disinfection of the equipment and the highest mean agreement scores included - the DTS system was easy to understand and follow and the DTS system can easily be adopted in my routine workflow. Lastly, - the DTS system helped improve the disinfection of my COW and the DTS system will improve patient outcomes corresponded to agreement score means of 8.1 and 7.9, respectively. In the group discussions, all the involved groups of healthcare workers expressed agreement in the ease of use of the system and minimal disruption in workflow.

Conclusion: Our survey and interview results indicate that most of the HCWs who interacted with the device had a positive interaction with the device. They stated the DTS system helped serve as an indicator about the last disinfection event. They also noted the system integrated well into their workflow without any disruption or additional workload.