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408 Effectiveness of an Ultraviolet Radiation Device for Disinfection of Personal Use Items in Rooms of Long-Term Care Facility Residents

Sunday, April 3, 2011
Trinity Ballroom (Hilton Anatole)
Brett Sitzlar, BS , Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, Cleveland, OH
Lucy A. Jury, NP , Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, Cleveland, OH
Sirisha Kundrapu, MD , Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, Cleveland, OH
Jennifer Cadnum, BS , Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, Cleveland, OH
Curtis J. Donskey, MD , Geriatric Research, Education, and Clinical Center, Louis Stokes Cleveland VA Medical Center, Cleveland, OH

Background: Daily disinfection of high-touch surfaces in patient rooms is a common practice designed to reduce the risk for transmission of healthcare-associated pathogens. However, hospitalized patients and long-term care facility (LTCF) residents often have a number of high-touch personal use items in their rooms that are not amenable to disinfection with liquid disinfectants.

Objective: To examine the frequency of contamination of personal use items in LTCF resident rooms, and to evaluate the use of a portable ultraviolet-C (UV-C) radiation device for disinfection of these items.   

Methods:  We performed a point-prevalence culture survey of personal use items in rooms of LTCF residents in a VA facility. Wheelchairs and personal use items on tables and in drawers and closets were cultured by direct plating for Clostridium difficile, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). The efficacy of the portable UV-C device for disinfection of contaminated personal use items was assessed in the laboratory and in rooms of LTCF residents.

Results: Of 108 items cultured from 27 rooms, 45 (42%) were contaminated with 1 or more pathogens (Figure). For positive cultures, the median numbers of C. difficile, VRE, and MRSA colonies recovered were 1 (range 1-100), 6 (range 1-50), and 6 (range 1-100), respectively.  On inoculated personal items, application of the UV-C device at a reflected dose of 22,000 µWs/cm2 for ~45 minutes consistently reduced recovery of C. difficile spores by >2-3 logs; similar killing of MRSA and VRE was achieved in ~20 minutes at a lower reflected dose. Disinfection of rooms with the device reduced the frequency of positive cultures for the pathogens by >75% with no apparent damage to the items.

Conclusions: Contamination of personal items was not uncommon in rooms of LTCF residents. The UV-C device could provide a novel strategy to reduce levels of contamination on personal items.