Efficacy and effectiveness of ultraviolet radiation as a procedure to carry out the hospital environmental decontamination

ABSTRACT

introduction. The hospital surfaces can contribute to secondary cross contamination, through the hands of health care personnel or contaminated material. It has been necessary to develop ambiental automatic decontamination equipment without the problems related with manual disinfection. material and method. An analytical, prospective, cross-sectional study was carried out, to evaluate the the efficacy and effectiveness of ambiental decontamination at the hospital, with ultraviolet radiation of a 245 nm wavelength equipment, on two semi critical areas, meant for clinical attention to patients with sars-cov-2 infection, with pre and post intervention sampling. 2-stage study to evaluate efficiency and effectiveness. results. In stage 1 (efficacy evaluation) atcc reference strains were sown, subsequently intervention with uv radiation was carried out, the growth of microorganisms was 0/3 in the micas, that is;it was possible to eliminate the bacterial load in 100% (3 samples). In stage 2 (evaluation of effectiveness), microbiological samples were taken from 15 clinic sites under baseline conditions, it was found that there was growth of microorganisms on 12/15 surfaces prior to intervention. After decontamination with uv radiation, the growth of microorganisms was 4/15 in the micas, bacterial elimination was achieved in 73.34% of the sampled surfaces and the bacterial load persisted in 26.66% of the sampled areas. After the decontamination intervention through uv light, a significant bacterial count elimination was achieved (Chi Square test p = 0.0002). conclusions. The decontamination process with uv light in closed spaces with equipment that emits radiation with a wavelength of 254 nm for 30 minutes was an effective intervention to reduce and eliminate the bacterial load from hospital surfaces.