SAN ANTONIO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Xenex Disinfection Services, the world leader in UV room disinfection systems for healthcare facilities, congratulates The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center on its “2014 ES Department of the Year” award from Health Facilities Management (HFM) magazine and the Association for the Healthcare Environment. This is the third consecutive year that a Xenex customer has received the award. All three customers reported a reduction in healthcare associated infections (HAI) after the facility began using Xenex’s germ-zapping robots to eliminate the deadly pathogens that cause infections. The improved outcomes were one of the reasons each facility was chosen for the award.
MD Anderson began using Xenex devices in 2010 and has conducted several studies proving the efficacy of pulsed xenon UV light for room disinfection. The first study, published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology (ICHE) in 2011, demonstrated that the Xenex system is 20 times more effective than traditional cleaning methods in destroying dangerous pathogens. A 2012 study demonstrated that Xenex’s pulsed xenon UV light robot is better than bleach for C.diff reduction. Use of the Xenex system (instead of bleach for rooms that housed patients with C.diff and VRE infections) resulted in a reduction in the number of patients contracting these infections.
“Congratulations to the MD Anderson Environmental Services and Infection Control teams on this well-deserved honor, which is a testament to their hard work and dedication to patient safety,” said Mark Stibich, PhD, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer at Xenex. “Like MD Anderson, many Xenex customers are reporting significant reductions in hospital acquired infections when they use our robots to disinfect their facilities.”
Xenex’s germ-zapping robots use pulsed xenon UV light to quickly destroy viruses, bacteria, mold, fungus and bacterial spores in the patient environment without contact or chemicals. Its intense, broad-spectrum light penetrates the pathogens’ cell walls, causing the DNA to fuse instantly, and rendering them unable to reproduce or mutate. Its patented technology is 25,000 times more intense than mercury UV systems and enables Xenex germ-zapping robots to disinfect healthcare facilities in a fraction of the time it takes for mercury bulb devices to disinfect rooms. Uniquely designed for ease of use and portability, a hospital’s environmental services staff can operate the Xenex device without disrupting hospital operations or requiring the use of expensive chemicals. With a 5-10 minute cleaning cycle per room, the device disinfects dozens of rooms per day, including patient rooms, operating rooms (ORs), equipment rooms, emergency rooms, intensive care units (ICUs) and public areas. The only non-mercury UV room disinfection solution is provided by Xenex.
Geisinger Medical Center was the recipient of HFM’s “2013 ES Department of the Year” award. According to the magazine article, Geisinger implemented Xenex’s pulsed xenon UV light room disinfection system in 2012 and MRSA infection rates decreased 25 percent, with no other changes to established cleaning and disinfection protocols.
The University of Wisconsin (Madison) Hospital and Clinics received HFM’s “2012 ES Department of the Year” award. Tom Peck, UW Hospital's Environmental Services (ES) director, said use of the Xenex system was a key contributing factor in the hospital’s decrease in C.diff infections. Like Geisinger, UW and MD Anderson, many hospitals and VA facilities throughout the U.S. that use Xenex’s germ-zapping robots to disinfect patient care areas are reporting fewer infections.
Award coverage appears in the magazine’s September 2014 issue and online at www.hfmmagazine.com.
About Xenex Disinfection Services
Xenex's patented pulsed xenon UV room disinfection system is a pesticidal device used for the advanced cleaning of healthcare facilities. Due to its speed and ease of use, the Xenex system has proven to integrate smoothly into hospital cleaning operations. The Xenex mission is to eliminate harmful bacteria, viruses and spores that can cause hospital acquired infections in the patient environment, and to become the new standard method for disinfection in healthcare facilities worldwide. For more information, visit www.xenex.com.
