Are you concerned about cross-contamination?
Busy hospital wards are subject to multiple channels of cross-contamination causing the spread of super-bugs whether it’s via contact with patients or equipment such as patient records and case note folders. Therefore it is imperative we find methods for preventing this transmission. Phil Muller from Kalamazoo Secure Solutions Limited explains how the Touchsafe product range could hold the answer to all your cross-contamination concerns.
Hospital acquired infections cost the NHS an estimated £1billion a year, infecting 100,000 patients and proving fatal for about 5,000¹. Rates of infection within the UK are the second highest in Europe and the problem is rising year-on-year. For that reason the medical community is under tremendous pressure to implement measures to help minimise the risk of potential outbreaks.
Implementing stringent housekeeping policies such as insisting medical staff change gloves or use antibacterial hand washes before and after touching patients, as well as the thorough cleaning of hospital wards is helping stem infection rates. But with other sources of potential contamination constantly present on hospital wards, how else can hospitals stave off potential outbreaks?
Kalamazoo Secure Solutions Ltd, which has the majority of UK NHS trusts as its customers, can offer a solution to limit potential incidents of cross contamination by using a brand new technology which kills microbes on contact. Phil Muller, Sales & Marketing Director for Kalamazoo says “We are able to integrate an additive into our products used within the health care industry which helps break the transmission paths of the disease, killing microbes on contact.
“After being independently tested and verified by the Medical Institute for Microbiology at the University of Milan, the Virology Institute at the University of Catania, the SIK Institute in Gothenburg and LawLabs in Birmingham, clinical research showed that 99.9 per cent of bacteria is killed within 24 hours. The additive has also been approved and listed with the EPA, FDA and the EU biocide Directive.”
Safe to use in any hospital or health care facility, the additive has no side effects and is non-toxic. The additive is based on silver ions, which has been recognised by clinicians for over 100 years for its antimicrobial activity, helping to ensure the long term antibacterial effects. The additive has been designed in such a way that it is homogeneously distributed throughout the product once it is added during the manufacturing process. The silver ions then kill all the bacteria on the surface by penetrating the cell membrane.
Phil Muller continues “Cross-contamination is one of the greatest transmitters of superbugs. Doctors and nurses today are very fastidious about hygiene, but situations can arise where patient records are compiled carrying MRSA or other similar superbugs to the next healthcare professional reading the notes. It is therefore imperative that as well as having rigorous hygiene practices, the equipment used within hospitals is also resistant to these microbes.”
Kalamazoo use this additive in the production of the moulded plastic units such as bed end units and desktop filing systems. Patient care records, mount sheets and visible registers also contain the Touchsafe additive to protect against the transmission of super-bugs.
¹ Improving Patient Care by Reducing the Risk of Hospital Acquired Infection: A Progress Report, National Audit Office 2004
Published in Hospital Bulletin magazine - April 2010
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