Enhanced terminal room disinfection and acquisition and infection caused by multidrug-resistant organisms and Clostridium difficile (the Benefits of Enhanced Terminal Room Disinfection study): a cluster-randomised, multicentre, crossover study

Publication date: Available online 17 January 2017 Source:The Lancet Author(s): Deverick J Anderson, Luke F Chen, David J Weber, Rebekah W Moehring, Sarah S Lewis, Patricia F Triplett, Michael Blocker, Paul Becherer, J Conrad Schwab, Lauren P Knelson, Yuliya Lokhnygina, William A Rutala, Hajime Kanamori, Maria F Gergen, Daniel J Sexton Background Patients admitted to hospital can acquire multidrug-resistant organisms and Clostridium difficile from inadequately disinfected environmental surfaces. We determined the effect of three enhanced strategies for terminal room disinfection (disinfection of a room between occupying patients) on acquisition and infection due to meticillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant enterococci, C difficile, and multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter. Methods We did a pragmatic, cluster-randomised, crossover trial at nine hospitals in the southeastern USA. Rooms from which a patient with infection or colonisation with a target organism was discharged were terminally disinfected with one of four strategies: reference (quaternary ammonium disinfectant except for C difficile, for which bleach was used); UV (quaternary ammonium disinfectant and disinfecting ultraviolet [UV-C] light except for C difficile, for which bleach and UV-C were used); bleach; and bleach and UV-C. The next patient admitted to the targeted room was considered exposed. Every strategy was used at each hospital in four consecutive 7-month periods. We ...
Source: The Lancet - Category: Journals (General) Source Type: research