醫院環境及設備消毒以預防COVID-19感染之探討

Objectives: Cleanliness of hospitals' public environmental equipment or contact surfaces are frequently overlooked in the prevention of COVID-19. This paper discusses the cleaning frequency, with the purpose of preventing COVID-19 infection and controlling its dissipation during the pandemic. Methods: Using the ATP cold light reaction detection method, we quantified the degree of pollution in hospitals' public environmental equipment or contact surfaces to reflect the effect of actual cleaning frequency. Results: Empirical findings indicated that according to the conventional cleaning and enhanced cleaning frequency, different test results are expected as generally predicted. Routine cleaning cannot meet the standard recommended in the literature (i.e., ＜250 RLU). Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the frequency of cleaning and disinfecting surfaces of objects frequently contacted by general public should be increased to every 2 hours. Moreover, these results should be regularly monitored and reflected to the cleaning staff, so that they can support strict compliance with environmental and hand hygiene to meet infection control goals for COVID-19.Alternate abstract:目標：醫院公共環境設備或接觸面是最常被忽略預防感染重要點，藉由清潔頻率探討，達到COVID-19疫情期間預防感染及避免感染擴散的目的。方法：本研究採取ATP冷光反應檢測法，來量化醫院公共環境設備或接觸面環境污染的程度，以反應不同實際清潔頻率所達到的效果。結果：實證發現依照常規清潔及加強清潔頻率，如一般預測有不同檢測結果。常規清潔無法符合文獻建議較嚴格小於250RLU的標準。結論：於COVID-19疫情期間之上班時段對一般人頻繁接觸的物體表面清潔消毒頻率應提高至每2小時一次，並定時監測及將結果反應給清潔人員，同時支持嚴格遵守環境和手部衛生的要求，以達到COVID-19感染控制之目標。

The impact of universal face masking and enhanced hand hygiene for COVID-19 disease prevention on the incidence of hospital-acquired infections in a Taiwanese hospital.

OBJECTIVES: During the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic, strict infection control measures have been implemented in healthcare settings and hospitals, including respiratory and hand hygiene. This study investigated the impact of these control measures on the incidence rates of hospital-acquired infections (HAI) and multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) in a Taiwan medical center. METHODS: This study compared the consumption of personal prevention resources and the incidence density of HAI and MDRO in a medical center in Taiwan from January to May 2020, encapsulating the COVID-19 outbreak period in the study, to baseline data from the same timeframe in 2018 and 2019. RESULTS: There was no significant difference between the number of inpatient days in 2020, 2018 and 2019. The consumption of either alcohol for hand hygiene or surgical masks significantly increased in 2020. However, the overall HAI incidence density did not significantly differ from the rate at the baseline period. It was found that the incidence density of MDRO was significantly lower in 2020, especially in carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus. CONCLUSIONS: A collateral benefit of the COVID-19 prevention measures on the incidence density of MDRO was observed in a hospital in Taiwan where the incidence of COVID-19 was low.

Proactive COVID-19 Infection Prevention Measures in a Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Center.

Since the outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) in Wuhan, China in December 2019 and its subsequent global spread, Taiwan has been combatting this pandemic. COVID-19 is caused by a novel coronavirus, severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As SARS-CoV-2 can be transmitted through droplets and aerosols, we cannot ignore the risk of transmission during hyperbaric oxygen therapy (HBOT). Our hyperbaric oxygen therapy center prioritizes preventing the spread of COVID-19 and maintaining operation for the patients during the pandemic. The aim of this article is to share the protocol that we have adopted in our hyperbaric oxygen therapy center to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.

Infection control measures of a Taiwanese hospital to confront the COVID-19 pandemic.

The World Health Organization announced the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak a pandemic on 12 March 2020. Although being in proximity to China, the original epicenter of the COVID-19 outbreak, Taiwan has maintained a low number of COVID-19 cases despite its close social ties and heavy traffic between Taiwan and China. Containment strategies executed by the Taiwanese government have attracted global attention. Similarly, in-hospital settings, high alertness and swift responses to the changing outbreak situation are necessary to ensure hospital staff members' safety so they can continue to save patients' lives. Herein, we present infection control measures that can be adopted in hospital settings that were executed in a Taiwanese hospital to confront the COVID-19 pandemic, including emergency preparedness and responses from the hospital administration, education, surveillance, patient flow arrangement, the partition of hospital zones, and the prevention of a systemic shutdown by using the "divided cabin, divided flow" strategy. The measures implemented by a Taiwan hospital during the COVID-19 pandemic may not be universally applicable in every hospital. Nonetheless, the presented infection control methods have been practically executed and can be referenced or modified to fit each hospital's unique condition.