Published June 2021 in the American Journal of Infection Control

Description: A 1-month cohort analysis was performed between March 2019 and April 2019 at Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center and Sunrise Children’s Hospital, a 762-bed acute care facility in Las Vegas, NV. Two units in Sunrise Children’s Hospital, a 24-bed pediatric intensive care unit (PICU) and a 22-bed pediatric emergency department (Peds ED); three units in Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, a 23-bed adult oncology services (AOS), a 22-bed adult intensive care unit-cardiovascular trauma unit (CVTU), and a 10-bed adult trauma surgical intensive care unit (TSICU) were part of the study. No changes in the hospital’s environmental cleaning and disinfection protocols were made during the study period. Air samples, along with surface environmental samples from 3 high-touch surfaces (privacy curtains, bed rails, and nursing counters) and 1 low-touch surface (top of proximity cabinet), were collected from each of these units. Surface and air environmental samples were collected 1, 7, and 28 days after DHP® Technology installation and compared with baseline environmental samples collected pre-DHP®.

Key Takeaways:

• Thirty-one surface samples were collected per sampling date for a total of 186 surface samples collected. DHP® demonstrated a statistically significant 96.5 percent reduction in the average number of bacteria collected in all surface environmental samples after 1 day of DHP® compared to baseline/pre-DHP® (p < .001). DHP® maintained an overall 92 percent reduction in the steady state surface microbial load for all combined units by Day 28 compared to the average number of bacteria measured pre-DHP® (p<.001).
• The aggregate surface microbial load was reduced from 130.92 million CFU at baseline/pre-DHP® to 4.65 million CFU on Day One (p<0.001).
• When analyzed by surface type (hard vs soft), the greatest reductions were achieved on soft surfaces (i.e. privacy curtains)—the most challenging surfaces to clean, with a 99.5 percent reduction achieved by Day One and a 96.6 percent reduction maintained by Day 28.
• The hard surfaces experienced a decrease of 94.3 percent by Day One, maintaining an 88.8 percent reduction by Day 28.
• Statistically significant reductions in the average number of bacteria were achieved for both the high- and low-touch surfaces.
• Air samples were collected per sampling date for a total of 42 air samples throughout the 28-day study. DHP® demonstrated a 28.7 percent reduction in the average number of bacteria and fungi collected in air samples after Day 1 of DHP® compared to baseline/pre-DHP®.
• A reduction in the steady state air bioburden compared to the air bioburden measured pre-DHP® was maintained throughout the 28-day study.

Access the Full Peer-Reviewed Study (PDF)