Page 6 - SAN News Volume 2 2020

Fighting infection in hidden places
Almost a million-to-one guarantee that superbugs will be eradicated
is the hope that inspired San Orthopaedic surgeon Dr Rod Brooks and Sterile Processing Manager Roel Castillo to be champions for the San’s latest fast effective addition to its infection prevention systems.
Funded thanks to hospital donors who shared their enthusiasm, the San is now home to a UV-C ultraviolet radiation mobile cleaning system called THOR.
Looking like the ‘R2D2’ robot character from the Star Wars films, the unit complements existing precautionary infection prevention processes, using UV-C light to penetrate hard to reach hidden places.
Head of San Orthopaedic Surgery Dr Brooks advocated it particularly for his orthopaedic patients.
“It’s hard to reach into all those
nooks and crannies in an operating theatre, despite the stringent cleaning processes” he said.
Roel Castillo and Dr Rod Brooks.
“Bone or joint infection can be hard
to eradicate, even with antibiotics, particularly where an implanted prosthesis is present and orthopaedic surgeons must be particularly vigilant to avoid any of these pathogens getting into the bone during surgery.
We’ve always valued our excellent minimal infection rates however unfortunately there is always a possible risk of patients coming into the Hospital, inadvertently carrying harmful pathogens which could be potential sources of infection.
It’s one of the reasons why we’ve always been so interested in maintaining a super-sterile theatre environment.”
The THOR system scans and
maps the space to be disinfected, assessing all the items and surfaces in the room, calculating the time the decontamination should take.
Ultraviolet is a form of light invisible
to the human eye which exists on
the electromagnetic spectrum
between X-rays and visible light. UV-C wavelengths are between 180 to 280 nanometres, making them germicidal and able to destroy bacteria and viruses, preventing them from infecting and reproducing.
During the process the robot-looking device raises up and down, flashing with a vivid blue light that infiltrates surfaces in darker shadowed areas that manual cleaning may not reach.
Emitting a slight sulphur smell as it irradiates unseen skin particles and hair follicles, a report is then produced to verify the disinfection delivery has completed.
Rod Brooks
Dr
preparing for orthopaedic surgery.
While the unit was investigated prior to COVID-19, its arrival was timely and Christopher Stokes from THOR distributor Surgical Specialties says the dosage of the high intensity
UV delivered over time is key to the potential impact of THOR on COVID-19.
“THOR uses light globes that have been found in a recent study by Boston University to eradicate COVID-19 in minutes”.
Roel Castillo says the Hospital’s readiness to address the risk of hospital bacterial or viral acquired infections has never been more important.
“The system has been proven to kill more than 99.99% of bacteria exposed to it.
That’s almost a million-to-one guarantee that superbugs will be eradicated.
That’s why we are so appreciative that we now have this additional system to complement what we already do”.
THOR UV-C radiation system.
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Want to help the San Foundation help others? Contact Managing Director Karen Gair at 9480 9405 or foundation@sah.org.au