RENO, Nev.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--As hospitals around the country look for innovative ways to continually enhance quality patient care, Renown Health introduces four germ-zapping robots that eliminate highly contagious superbugs in just minutes.
The Xenex germ-zapping robots use pulsed xenon ultraviolet (UV-C) light that is thousands of times more intense than sunlight to effectively eliminate harmful superbugs, including Clostridium difficile (C.diff), MRSA, influenza and Ebola.
The portable robots are used as an extra layer of patient protection and are brought into operating rooms and certain patient rooms after hospital staff has done a thorough cleaning of the area. Renown is the first in the region to use this technology and joins nearly 300 other hospitals nationwide using the robots, including MD Anderson Cancer Center, Sharp and Stanford Hospital. The Xenex system has been credited with helping U.S. healthcare facilities reduce their rates of infection.
“Patient safety is always our top priority,” said Amy McCombs, director, infection prevention at Renown. “We are excited to add this new technology into our already strong infection prevention protocols so we can be even more proactive in protecting the health of our patients.”
Because the Xenex robots use UV light to disinfect rooms, they are able to reach every surface in the room and do not leave any chemical residue. To disinfect a room after standard cleaning procedures have taken place, a hospital employee wheels the robot into the room, begins the automated sequence, and then leaves the room to allow the robot to eliminate bacteria in just five minutes.
“Renown has long been recognized as the region’s leader in technology and specialized care,” said McCombs. “So it’s only fitting that we bring this leading technology to our infection prevention measures.”
The Xenex robots are the latest to join other leading-edge, robotic systems already in use at Renown such as the da Vinci Robotic Surgical System, the Eksoskeleton robotic suit (Ekso) and the fully automated clinical laboratory.
Renown is enlisting the help of the community and employees to name three of the robots. The contest runs May 4-22, with two phases of voting. Details and voting at Renown.org/RenownRobots.
About Renown Health
Renown Health is a locally governed and locally owned, not-for-profit integrated healthcare network serving a 17-county region comprised of northern Nevada, Lake Tahoe and northeast California. Renown is one of the region’s largest private employers with a workforce of more than 5,600. It comprises three acute care hospitals, a rehabilitation hospital, skilled nursing facility, the area’s most comprehensive medical group and urgent care network, and the region’s largest and only locally owned not-for-profit insurance company, Hometown Health. Renown has a long tradition of being the first in the region to successfully perform leading-edge medical procedures. For more information, visit renown.org.
