Digitalization, Chemistry Can Help Prevent Nosocomial Infection

There are no spaces in our everyday life untouched by technology. Nowadays, our daily routine and activities can be tracked and analyzed through apps embedded with artificial intelligence or big data that uncover interesting insights into how we can improve our exercising, shopping habits, and our productivity at work.   
 
Simultaneously, however, there is room for improvement within industries that remain key to the Mexican economy and are critical for many, such as the health sector. There are a wide range of processes that are still  carried out manually or by outdated input methods that result in missed opportunities provided by technology, such as increased productivity, efficiency and cost savings.

Missed opportunities for those that do not embrace the digital transformation are wide-ranging. Resistance toward new technology is mainly due to cost restrictions, prejudice or ignorance of untapped new tools and resources. For example, only 17 percent of Mexicans who frequent the government-run Institute of Mexico’s Social Security (IMSS) health services and clinics have downloaded and installed the institute’s app, IMSS Digital, which can help with basic tasks for pensioners and doctors, such as appointment bookkeeping or medical file sharing, among others. 
 
Technology shortcomings can also be seen in the private sector, where a doctor’s note, which  includes critical information, such as a patient’s diagnosis, are still being handwritten along with medicine prescriptions that miss out on insights that can be obtained through cloud computing. A patient’s lifelong clinical history could be accessed by any health professional in any part of the country via a simple internet connection.

In other areas of the health sector, including medical facilities, such as hospitals and clinics, critical data on hand hygiene standards is nonexistent. Ecolab, in over 170 countries, offers technology that provides a simple way in which hand hygiene can be tracked, improved and optimized through data that ensures learning, compliance and drives best practices. 
 
Elsewhere, an accurate dosage of soaps, detergents and disinfectants, which avoids waste and promotes efficient water consumption, can protect the health of patients, their families, doctors and staff, as well as decrease pressure on a hospital’s operational costs.

That is why a deep understanding of disease-causing pathogens combined with the technology to facilitate high standards of disinfection and hygiene can reduce risks and the possibility of doctors and users contracting or spreading diseases.
 
Other relevant areas within a health clinic or hospital that can be dealt with successfully through technology include laundry operations. Many people understand the role that clean and safe whites can have on the comfort of patients, doctors and workers, but they may not realize the  potential of laundry operations to protect health as well as how it can be done responsibly, through efficient consumption of water and energy, and protecting the environment.
 
As the global leader in water, hygiene and infection protection solutions and services, one of the many questions we frequently hear from leading brands across the globe is how to reduce the spread of diseases in medical facilities through their in-house laundry operations. To answer, we begin by providing insight into a couple of simple definitions that will help everybody better frame what we understand. 
 
Across the industry, it is common to hear the term "hygienically clean," but many do not know what it means or entails. It is not the same as disinfection, which refers to the elimination of bacteria and viruses. It is also different from sanitation, which refers to the significant reduction in the number of bacteria. Products with sanitation and disinfection characteristics require rigorous testing by experts as well as registration by the Environmental Protection Agency or regulatory health bodies in each country.

There is no universal understanding of “hygienically clean” and there might be some heated arguments about it across the world. However, at Ecolab, we adhere to one of the most often used definitions by the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) in the US, which refers to equipment or areas “free of pathogens, such as bacteria, viruses and germs, in sufficient numbers to cause human illness.”

Now, professionals can understand that disinfection and sanitation require a different set of technologies and guidelines. That is why it is vital to work with experts that not only provide advice on the technology needed for a certain type of facility but also on necessary guidelines, gather data, extract interesting insights and look beyond for risks and missed opportunities.

Ecolab technology, for example, allows for a quick recovery of up to 4,000 gallons of water per hour. Wastewater is removed from the wash process, filtered, cleaned and already heated, sent back to conventional machines for a new wash. This allows freshwater savings of up to 60 percent and hot water savings of up to 25 percent. 

While using the right technologies and the right procedures will place a health facility ahead of its competition, it is important to understand and act on what “hygienically clean” really means and look into other considerations to promote health and safety in your laundry operations. 
 
The scope of technology is almost unlimited and there is still much to be done within the health sector; however, we are on the right track and those who propel its efficiency, savings and productivity – while taking care of the environment – will be true pioneers in the new global medical revolution. 
 
Technology to be applied to hospitals, clinics and the whole health sector is rapidly advancing, so we are yet to see how it can be harnessed to find answers to the industry’s most pressing needs. However, one of the most important factors – and maybe the only one – is that all of us as key members of the industry must join hands to improve the well-being of those who need it the most: our patients.