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Feasibility of Routinely Using Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor to Decontaminate Rooms in a Busy United States Hospital

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2015

Jonathan A. Otter ,
Matthew Puchowicz ,
David Ryan ,
James A. G. Salkeld ,
Timothea A. Cooper ,
Nancy L. Havill ,
Kathy Tuozzo  and
John M. Boyce
Jonathan A. Otter*
Affiliation:
BIOQUELL (UK), Andover, Hampshire, United Kingdom
Matthew Puchowicz
Affiliation:
BIOQUELL, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
David Ryan
Affiliation:
BIOQUELL, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
James A. G. Salkeld
Affiliation:
BIOQUELL, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Timothea A. Cooper
Affiliation:
Hospital of Saint Raphael, New Haven, Connecticut
Nancy L. Havill
Affiliation:
Hospital of Saint Raphael, New Haven, Connecticut
Kathy Tuozzo
Affiliation:
Hospital of Saint Raphael, New Haven, Connecticut
John M. Boyce
Affiliation:
Hospital of Saint Raphael, New Haven, Connecticut Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut
*
BIOQUELL (UK), 52 Royce Close, West Portway, Andover, Hampshire, SPIO 3TS, United Kingdom(jon.otter@bioquell.com)
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Abstract

During a 22-month period at a 500-bed teaching hospital, 1,565 rooms that had housed patients infected with multidrug-resistant pathogens were decontaminated using hydrogen peroxide vapor. Hydrogen peroxide vapor decontamination required a mean time of 2 hours and 20 minutes, compared with 32 minutes for conventional cleaning. Despite the greater time required for decontamination, hydrogen peroxide vapor decontamination of selected patient rooms is feasible in a busy hospital with a mean occupancy rate of 94%.

Information

Type
Concise Communications
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 30 , Issue 6 , June 2009 , pp. 574 - 577
Copyright
Copyright © The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America 2009

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