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| Tru-D SmartUVC device |
Memphis, TN's Tru-D SmartUVC touted the results of a study funded by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which found that its ultraviolet light-emitting robot reduced the risk of acquiring hospital-associated infections by more than 30%.
The study evaluated four hospital room disinfection strategies at 9 hospitals. Each hospital used one of four cleaning strategies for 7 months in a randomized sequential order. Two groups involved use of the robot and bleach or quaternary ammonium, while the other involved use of quaternary ammonium only (the baseline strategy) or bleach only.
Adding the Tru-D robot cut the incidence of multidrug-resistant organisms by 32% to 37% compared to a standard cleaning regime of quaternary ammonium. Moreover, The Tru-D robot+bleach group, outperformed the bleach only group, cutting the clinical incidence of multidrug-resistant organisms to 22.8 per 10,000 days of patient exposure, compared to 39.6 in the control group.
"We anticipated positive results of the BETR-D study and believe that the primary outcomes will set the standard for measured-UV technology in hospitals by being the most precise example of Tru-D's ability to reduce infection," said company president Chuck Dunn in a statement. "As health care leaders seek to consistently guarantee safe and disinfected patient environments, Tru-D continues to reduce health care-associated infections. It's clear that Tru-D is alone in its affiliation with this method and device-specific study."
Additional details from the study will be discussed on Oct. 9 at the IDWeek infectious diseases conference in San Diego.
The Tru-D robot emits UV-C light from a fixed location in the hospital room. UV-C light is the only germicidal wavelength of UV light. The company says on its website that the robot uses a sensor that causes the devices to adjust the amount of UV-C emitted to the size of the room and ensures that even shadowy areas are disinfected.
Hospital-associated infections result in 100,000 death per year, and the 2 million cases per year result in $30 billion in medical costs, the CDC says.
Thanks to reforms initiated under the Affordable Care Act, hospitals that perform poorly in the federal Hospital-Acquired Condition Reduction Program received reduced government reimbursement, increasing demand for tool like the Tru-D robot. The performance of various hospitals can be viewed online.
- read the release
- here's the study abstract (PDF)