Cleanzine: your weekly cleaning and hygiene industry newsletter 18th April 2024 Issue no. 1110
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Summit seeks new solutions to prevent HAIs
Seeking a new, industry-wide approach to help prevent healthcare-associated infections Crothall Healthcare is currently hosting its inaugural Infection Prevention Powerhouse Summit at its corporate headquarters in Pennsylvania, US.
The two-day event is featuring presentations by Crothall executives and several companies that provide products and innovative solutions that help mitigate the risk of HAIs.
Crothall, which provides patient room cleaning and other environmental services to approximately 400 hospitals, and several hundred more related to other support service and food service functions, already works with many hospitals to reduce HAIs. But the summit aims to intensify the industry's efforts by gathering and analysing additional data from its participants, then testing and validating that data with the help of hospitals nationwide.
"The summit's purpose is to seek a holistic solution in the prevention of HAIs," says Rich Feczko, Crothall's national director of systems, standards, innovation and global support.
"Each supplier has expertise about specific products used in this fight. By collecting and analysing data from key suppliers, and combining it with our own data, we can provide hospitals with a set of solutions for specific issues, as well as the overall prevention of HAIs."
In addition to Crothall, here is a list of companies with their areas of expertise that are participating in the summit:
* Diversey, quaternary disinfectant and hydrogen peroxide solution lines;
* Surfacide, UV-C technology;
* Hygiena, ATP surface measurements solutions;
* Clorox, bleach-based solutions;
* Gojo, hand hygiene soap and sanitizer solutions;
* Supreme Industrial, EPA-registered non-bleach based sporicidal solution.
* Consultant Handwashingforlife Institute will make a presentation on approaches and best practices on hand hygiene
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, on any given day, about one in 25 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection. To engage hospitals in its approach, Rich Feczko plans to enlist at least 30 hospitals to help test and validate solutions derived from the data.
He believes some will want to study a specific issue, such as the impact of disinfectants, while others will take a more comprehensive approach. "We plan to approach a wide variety of hospitals across the country that will want to see the data and help us optimize our efforts to reduce HAIs," he says.
Once all data and testing is complete, Crothall plans to publish a white paper and other materials with key results by Autumn of next year.
Crothall Healthcare is a Compass One Company that provides specialised, high-quality, innovative, and responsive support services exclusively to the healthcare industry. Crothall serves many of the Top 100 Hospitals among their 1200 healthcare clients and across the nation in 39 states of the US. Its core services include: environmental services, patient transport, laundry & linen, facilities management, healthcare technology solutions, and ambulatory services.
8th December 2016