Touchless Technologies for Decontamination in the Hospital: a Review of Hydrogen Peroxide and UV Devices

Reduction of microbial contamination of the hospital environment is a challenge, yet has potential impacts on infection prevention efforts. Fumigation and UV light devices for environmental cleaning have expanded into the health care setting with the goal of decontamination of difficult to clean or overlooked surfaces. In an era of increased scrutiny of hospital-acquired infections, increasingly, health care centers are adopting these "touchless" cleaning techniques as adjuncts to traditional manual cleaning. The evidence for improved clinical outcomes is lacking; yet, the experience with these devices continues to accumulate in the literature. We review the recently published data related to the use of hydrogen peroxide and UV light-based decontamination systems for cleaning of hospital rooms. Touchless cleaning technologies may provide an incremental benefit to standard practices by limiting cross-transmission of pathogens via environmental surfaces, though evidence of prevention of infections remains limited.