Disinfection Robot Improves Patient Safety and Prevents Infection

Palos Community Hospital has added TRU-D SmartUVC™ to its patient safety and infection control arsenal and will be using the UV disinfection robot in patient rooms as well as surgical suites to eliminate harmful pathogens after traditional cleaning routines are carried out.

“The acquisition of this technology is simply another way we are working to protect the integrity of our health care environment, and ultimately, safeguard the well-being of every patient who walks through our doors at Palos,” said Larry Trump, Palos housekeeping supervisor.

TRU-D has been shown to have a 99.9 percent disinfection rate of all viruses and bacteria, killing pathogens including Clostridium difficile (C. diff.) and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and making the hospital safer for patients and employees. Short for Total Room Ultraviolet Disinfection, TRU-D “finishes the job” after a hospital staff member completes traditional disinfection routines, significantly reducing the risk of health care-acquired infections, or HAIs. The remotely operated robot works by generating UV light energy that modifies the DNA structure of an infectious cell so that it cannot reproduce — and a cell that cannot reproduce cannot colonize and harm patients.

“The efforts of housekeeping in implementing several new processes and technologies, such as TRU-D has really helped to reduce the incidence of health care-acquired infections,” said Anne Myron, infection control practitioner at Palos Community Hospital. “Housekeeping is a key partner with infection control in providing a safe environment for our patients.”

“With the migration of new viruses and pathogens, like MERS, from continent to continent, there are several variables left in question when it comes to terminal disinfection of patient areas in health care settings,” said Chuck Dunn, president of Lumalier Corporation, manufacturer of TRU-D. “One variable that never changes is TRU-D’s ability to eliminate pathogens that cost hospitals and patients thousands upon thousands of dollars per HAI. Hospitals like Palos that invest in new technology are at the forefront of patient safety and infection prevention.”

Palos recently achieved an “A” Hospital Safety Score rating from hospital watchdog The Leapfrog Group. The score, which includes 28 different data points, measures how well a hospital protects patients from accidents, errors, injuries and infections.

TRU-D SmartUVC is the device of choice for nearly all existing independent research on UV disinfection technology, including a $2 million study funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Epicenter Program at Duke University and the University of North Carolina. TRU-D comes equipped with iTRU-D, a cloud-based, secure usage-tracking program that provides customized real-time infection prevention reports via an iPad Mini to hospital staff. More than 200 TRU-Ds have been deployed to disinfect hospitals across the U.S., Canada and Europe, including the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center in Bethesda, Maryland; the Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, South Carolina; and Houston Methodist in Houston, Texas.