Major articleUse of a daily disinfectant cleaner instead of a daily cleaner reduced hospital-acquired infection rates

- Disinfectant cleaner for health care environments is superior to cleaner alone.
- Hospital-acquired infection rates as a result of antibiotic-resistant organisms were reduced.
- Minimum of 80% cleaning compliance is needed to reduce hospital-acquired infections.
- Housekeeper training and cleaning compliance feedback are required.

BackgroundDocumenting effective approaches to eliminate environmental reservoirs and reduce the spread of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) has been difficult. This was a prospective study to determine if hospital-wide implementation of a disinfectant cleaner in a disposable wipe system to replace a cleaner alone could reduce HAIs over 1 year when housekeeping compliance was ≥80%.MethodsIn this interrupted time series study, a ready-to-use accelerated hydrogen peroxide disinfectant cleaner in a disposable wipe container system (DCW) was used once per day for all high-touch surfaces in patient care rooms (including isolation rooms) to replace a cleaner only. The HAI rates for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), and Clostridium difficile were stratified by housekeeping cleaning compliance (assessed using ultraviolet-visible marker monitoring).ResultsWhen cleaning compliance was ≥80%, there was a significant reduction in cases/10,000 patient days for MRSA (P = .0071), VRE (P < .0001), and C difficile (P = .0005). For any cleaning compliance level there was still a significant reduction in the cases/10,000 patient days for VRE (P = .0358).ConclusionOur study data showed that daily use of the DCW applied to patient care high-touch environmental surfaces with a minimum of 80% cleaning compliance was superior to a cleaner alone because it resulted in significantly reduced rates of HAIs caused by C difficile, MRSA, and VRE.

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