UV Robots for Sterilization

Medical News Technology published an article "UV light robot to clean hospital rooms could help stop spread of super-bugs". In this article Texas A&M Health Science Center College of Medicine conducted a study on the effectiveness  of a germ-zapping robot to clean hospital rooms, which could possibly hold the key for preventing the spread of "super-bugs"- in turn, saving countless dollars and most importantly lives. It is imperative to keep hospital rooms clean to prevent the spread of infections. The existence of nosocomial infections can be difficult to treat and sometimes fatal. Dr. Chetan Jinadatha, M.D., M.P.H. who conducted the study states that "A typical 100-bed hospital sees about 10-20 hospital -acquired infections (HAI) a year, The goal is to get zero infections." Another major factor for reduction is financial, in 2017 the federal government will dramatically reduce Medicare payments to hospitals that exceed incidences of HAI's. The current situations of sanitizing relies heavily on housekeeping staff which has a high turn over rate. This research was focused on the effectiveness of a pulsed xenon ultraviolet (UV) and its effectiveness at eliminating HAI's. This is one of the first studies since the system was introduced in 2011. This system is based on xenon gas and high voltage electricity that releases UV light that binds to DNA of organisms and kills them.

Last year, Dr. Jinadatha conducted a study that compared manual cleaning vs manual cleaning & UV light that kills the organism by binding to the DNA, it was 99 percent effective aganist bacteria that causes MRSA. The study was published  earlier this year in the American journal of Infection Control which looked at the effectiveness of UV light disinfection and proved that 12 minutes in the UV light system cut the amount of bacteria in the room by 70 percent, this is about the same as the manual disinfection's. Jinadatha, also stated that he never recommends UV light alone but with manual cleaning. The system is currently used by some VA hospitals and and about 200 private hospital and he predicts this will eventually become standard equipment.

I personally feel that there is no replacement to the human factor of any environmental service that is performed in a healthcare facility. However, I agree that with the combination of humans and technology, the existence of infections can be minimized or possibly eliminate. More research needs to be performed to identify UV sensitive bacteria and how the light spectrum can be used.