Safer hospital rooms

C. difficile contamination of hospital rooms is a leading cause of deadly infections, and human behavior may be at least as important as technological innovation in controlling it. A new study has found that imposing a three-step cleaning procedure — and supervising it carefully — can nearly eliminate the microbe. Over a 21-month period at a Cleveland hospital, researchers sequentially imposed three cleaning techniques: fluorescent markers whose disappearance after cleaning provided feedback on thoroughness, an ultraviolet radiation device to enhance regular cleaning, and a daily disinfection team requiring assessment and clearance of disinfected rooms by supervisory staff. The study appears in the May issue of Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.