Utilizing Ultraviolet Light Disinfection in the ICU, Operating Rooms, and Patient Rooms

 Contamination control in the healthcare industry is a constant and prevalent problem. Hospital acquired infections (HAIs) have increased 36% over the past two decades although these infections are often preventable. Hospital settings do not provide an ideal situation for proper cleaning.  With many rooms having a short turnaround time between patients, it is very difficult to contact every surface in order to obtain a sufficient kill. One way for infection prevention and control programs to perform a quick, high-level disinfection is through the use of ultraviolet light. UV-C light provides a dry, chemical-free, and residue-free method of disinfection effective against bacteria, viruses, fungi and spores. Spores like C. diff, MRSA, and Multi Drug Resistant Organisms can all be eliminated utilizing ultraviolet light. Additionally, UV-C has been validated to deactivate the SARS-CoV-2 virus.  Adding in a 5-minute UV treatment at the end of the normal cleaning and housekeeping routine can help reduce the risk of HAIs without a major change in operations.

There are three main sources of contamination concern within a hospital, the intensive care unit, operating rooms, and patient rooms. Studies determined that the most common HAIs may survive on surfaces for months and become a continuous source of transmission if not properly treated. Patient rooms can be quickly and efficiently disinfected with ultraviolet light between patients, after a high-risk patient occupancy, or periodically depending on the facility's needs. Surgical centers are extremely vulnerable places for transmission of infection. Operating rooms can be disinfected between surgeries or at the end of the day, depending on the schedule and needs of the facility. Environmental contamination may pose an even greater challenge in the ICU, where patients are critically ill with a higher risk level for infection. The contamination of surfaces in the ICU has been identified in outbreaks and cross-transmission of pathogens among critically ill patients.

Room disinfection systems like the Torch and Torch+ can be placed inside the patient rooms and surgical suites, killing any exposed harmful organisms after a few minutes. Find a space in the ICU and NICU for tabletop chambers like the Flashbox and Flashbox-mini which can disinfect masks, shared supplies, electronics, badges, and phones, some of the most contaminated things we encounter, in one minute or less. Built-in UV-C light fixtures like the Flashbar can also be implemented in the operating rooms over surgical tables and patient rooms over the beds. This provides the easy option of turning on the lights when the spaces are empty without needing to move extra equipment into the room on a daily basis, if not multiple times per day. For continuous air disinfection, The
Torch-Aire Recessed can be mounted in the ceiling safely operating throughout the day, even with patients and staff in the room.

Ultraviolet light disinfection provides a way for small items, as well as full rooms to be fully disinfected in the matter of minutes. It provides a low cost, simple approach to address areas often unable to be properly cleaned otherwise. ClorDiSys Solutions’ suite of products is the fast, chemical-free, easy-to-operate, and most effective way to disinfect your operating and patient rooms.

Our Experience During COVID

  

ClorDiSys Solutions, Inc is coming up on our 20^th anniversary at the end of this year.  We’ve had a lot to be proud of, including simply lasting 20 years.  I’ve worked at ClorDiSys since 2006, technically earlier as I helped out during college as my father and his partner started the business in my garage.  I have personally been proud of all that this company has achieved, including its growth to a company with a global reach, but more for its success in helping our clients keep their critical environments clean, allowing them to safely do their work feeding the world, developing cures for diseases, caring for their patients, and so much more.  When COVID hit, we knew we were in a place to help.  but none of us could have imagined just what was to come.  As a contamination control company, we were used to helping companies in a time of crisis.  Usually though, the emergencies were personal to that company, and they came to us 1-2 at a time.  COVID-19 affected everyone all at the same time.

I'll never forget the call I got from John Lowe of Nebraska Medicine.  I had worked with him years before on a research project, which led to them beta-tested some of our UV systems and eventually using them during the ebola crisis of 2014 as their Biocontainment Unit treated and discharged all the patients that arrived.  His phone call was pretty short, letting me know that they tested UV light as a method to disinfect N95 masks as the supplies were severely limited.  Before I could comment on how awesome that sounded, he told me they were publishing that story in the New York Times.  The next message was very clear, "get ready."

The next four months were a blur. We literally had to add phone lines to keep up with it all.  We came together though, sometimes running through the office with two phones in our hands, other times creating new workflows to manage and meet demand on the fly, and always being empathetic to whoever called for help.  At the time, it was stressful.  Our team had to scramble to source components from new vendors to keep up with demand in a world where supply chains were tested and global shipping was severely hindered.  We were able to streamline our production, building equipment more efficiently than before.  We stayed late, testing equipment the same day it was built in order to ship it out faster.  Our team drove packages over to the shipping company at the end of the day after our daily pickup so our clients didn’t have to wait an extra day to receive their products.  The Marine's have a slogan, "Adapt, Improvise, Overcome," and we borrowed that mission statement for the rest of the way to do our jobs so that others could do theirs.  At a time when many businesses were forced to close, we were able to help out our communities by hiring workers to meet the swelling demand.  At the peak, we doubled the size of the company, converting our office spaces into socially distant production spaces.  The impact our team had went further than we ever imagined it could.

Our Disinfection Services Team was tapped to travel across the country to treat facilities shut down by the virus.  It’s a weird feeling being in an empty airport traveling during a pandemic to go into a building that its employees are banned from entering.  People thanked us for doing our job, that was also a weird feeling.  There were a number of businesses where we provided a weekly high-level disinfection to reduce the risk of infection and increase employee comfort levels.

Our Lantern UV systems are being used by EMS, Police and Fire Departments across the country to disinfect their vehicles between uses. 

Many of our UV light systems were used to disinfect N95 masks according to the "Nebraska Protocol" in an effort to stretch stockpiles as supply dwindled globally.  

Our Torch UV systems were utilized in Mobile COVID-19 Testing Centers, routinely disinfecting them to reduce the risk of contamination between a positive patient and a negative patient.  We even placed a few of our Torches on television sets as production started back up.

Our Flash-Tunnel, a UV disinfection tunnel, is being used to disinfect the COVID-19 vaccine packages coming off the production line.

Our Flashbox and Flashbox-mini UV chambers are helping to disinfect shared tools and items, including ID badges, thermometers, pens and more at security gates, visitor’s entrances, and other entry points.

Recently, our CD Gas Decon Team performed a decontamination of a COVID-19 vaccine production facility, ensuring that it was free of pathogens prior to it going online. 

It has been great seeing our products and services help so many people in so many ways during this pandemic.  It has been far more fulfilling seeing our people step up to help out over the course of this past year.   At the time it was stressful, but looking back, its remarkable to know the positive impact that our team was able to provide to so many people in such difficult circumstances.  None of us at ClorDiSys were ready for what the past year would bring, but the way our team handled itself has been what I’m most proud of.   

Kevin Lorcheim

Sr. Manager

COVID-19 Vaccine Production Facility Decontamination

 

Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, ClorDiSys has been proudly helping essential businesses protect their workers and operations by providing contamination control solutions.  Recently, our Decontamination Services team assisted a contract manufacturer prepare their facility for the production and storage of COVID-19 vaccines.  This facility had previously been used in the production of a beta-lactam antibiotic, which offered the unfortunate possibility of cross-contamination of the beta-lactam used.  With anywhere from 10-20% of the general population having some allergic reaction to penicillin or other beta-lactams, the facility required a true complete decontamination in order to guarantee the safe manufacture and storage of the new vaccines.  In order to mitigate this risk, it was decided to treat the area using chlorine dioxide gas.  Having been shown effective against a variety of beta-lactams, chlorine dioxide gas presented a verified process of treating the entire environment.  In this case, the facility treated the environment after removing all prior equipment and before the installation of the new equipment.  The decontamination took place over the course of two days, and the facility was able to start installing equipment the next day.  We have always been proud of the work accomplished at ClorDiSys over the past twenty years and assisting in the safe production of vaccines to end the COVID-19 pandemic ranks pretty high up on our list of achievements.  Look for our blog post next week for more info regarding how we've assisted during the COVID-19 pandemic.

 

When a cannabis grow room is empty, that is the ideal time to implement a complete decontamination of the space. A complete removal of all microbial life including fungi, bacteria, spores, and viruses requires a sterilization-level process. A sterile environment from the start, as well as only sterile items being introduced into that environment, will help best assure lack of mold and other contaminants. A sterilization at the end of every harvest is also good insurance no pathogens will proliferate when the next crop starts.

Gaseous chlorine dioxide (CD) is an EPA registered sterilant that can be utilized prior to any plants enter the room to ensure any pre-existing mold spores or other microbial contaminants be remediated. For a complete kill of all potential organisms in the entire facility, chlorine dioxide gas is the optimal solution as it is a gas as room temperature, filling the entire space evenly and completely, decontaminating every surface, crack, or crevice with no residues or additional cleanup. CD gas is non-carcinogenic, non-flammable, and safer on materials than bleach, ozone, and hydrogen peroxide.

Ultraviolet light (UV-C) is an easy way to achieve high-level disinfection to any exposed surface in minutes. This chemical-free and residue-free disinfection method will help reduce mold spores, therefore minimizing future risk of exposure to the cannabis plant. This is best utilized in a completely clear space to ensure maximum exposure to the UV-C light. Ultraviolet light disinfection is a fast, simple to use method, capable of providing a 99% reduction of spores within minutes without any dangerous residues to be wiped down or neutralized afterwards.

Controlling mold and other microbial contaminants is essential to any operation as it is a strong threat to cannabis. Before plants enter the grow room, whether it is a new facility or at the end of harvest, measures should be taken to ensure no dangerous organisms are present that can result in wreaking havoc on the new crop. Read more about ultraviolet light disinfection and chlorine dioxide decontamination technologies providing efficient kill of molds and spores as well as other common bacteria and viruses.