Jul 12 2016
As hospitals across the nation and around the world look for new and innovative ways to battle bacteria and eliminate multi-drug resistant organisms that can cause Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs), Camden Clark Medical Center has again committed to improving patient care with its purchase of a second high tech Xenex Germ-Zapping Robot™.
Camden Clark is the only hospital in the area and in the state of West Virginia to have purchased two of these state-of-the-art devices. Camden Clark bought its first robot in February 2015. The newest machine was made possible because of fundraising efforts by the hospital’s auxiliary committee.
The two robots, affectionately named Rosie and Robbie, are part of Camden Clark’s Environmental Services team and are designed to enhance the facility’s already thorough processes for cleaning rooms and killing the germs that can cause infections. The portable Xenex system can disinfect a typical patient or procedure room in four minute cycles without warm-up or cool-down times and is effective against even the most dangerous pathogens, including Clostridium difficile (C.diff), norovirus, influenza, Ebola and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, better known as MRSA.
The Xenex system pulses intense ultraviolet (UV) light to disinfect rooms, effectively killing microorganisms without contact or chemicals. UV light has been used for disinfection for decades, but here’s the difference – it’s the only UV disinfection system that uses pulsed xenon and not mercury bulbs (mercury is toxic) to create UV light. The germicidal UV light is 500-2,000 times more intense than sunlight and destroys microorganisms on surfaces. The robot’s UV light is so intense that it even works in shadowed areas. It can be used in any department and in any unit within the hospital, including isolation rooms, operating rooms, general patient care rooms, contact precaution areas, emergency rooms, bathrooms and public spaces.
Using the Xenex robot is quick and easy. First the room has to be cleaned and all visible dirt/fluids removed, trash emptied, linens removed – a normal cleaning. Then once the room is visually clean, the robot comes in and destroys anything left behind – it eliminates all the deadly bacteria the naked eye can’t see.
“Hundreds of people enter this hospital every day – patients, visitors, doctors, employees and vendors – bringing a variety of contaminants and germs with them. We want to do everything within our means to provide a clean environment to reduce the risk of hospital acquired infections,” said Phil O’Bryon, Director of Nutrition & Environmental Services at Camden Clark. “Using the two Xenex Germ-Zapping Robots™ enables us to get rid of those pathogens before they can endanger our patients and staff. We are focused on and committed to patient care and safety, which is why we are proud to be the leaders in implementing this innovative technology.”