Automated Hospital Room Disinfection Utilizing a Novel Aerosolized Hydrogen Peroxide Microdroplet Disbursing...

Traditional, manual and UV disinfection methods have left gaps in achieving thorough whole-room disinfection for hard-to-reach or shadowed areas, increasing the risk of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Effective environmental disinfection is a core component of a comprehensive infection prevention program. Traditional limitations include incomplete disinfection, exposure risk for healthcare personnel, and cost of labor requirements, which warrant the adoption of newer technologies. An automated aerosolized hydrogen peroxide (aHP) dry fogging technology designed to overcome these limitations has recently entered the market, potentially offering a more clinically and economically effective solution. This novel technology provides micron-sized hydrogen peroxide droplets to the entire room, ensuring optimal disinfection of all surfaces. The system also allows integration within data platforms to provide historical data on equipment usage, verification of aHP dosages, room coverage, disinfection times, and locations to provide quality assurance and auditable records. The dispersion of microdroplet aHP via dry fogging offers uniform coverage, providing greater germicidal efficacy for modern healthcare settings. The objective of this protocol is to outline the methods of use of the automated aHP dry fogging system, including the contribution of real-time tracking and auditing capabilities to the management of infection risk. Representative results are then provided demonstrating coverage efficacy as well as the consequent impact on the reduction of transmission, direct cost, and productivity associated with carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB), a multidrug-resistant organism that has been deemed an "urgent threat" by the CDC. Compared to the lowest per-admission reproduction number of 0.40, where a total of 9.6 patient in-facility transmissions would be expected, application of the dry fogging technology as part of a robust carbapenem-resistant organism (CRO) mitigation strategy demonstrated a statistically significant reduction in the actual rate of transmission compared to the expected rate.