The impact of a novel color additive for disinfectant wipes on room cleanliness and turnover time.

Abstract

Background: Contaminated environmental surfaces in the health care setting put patients at risk of acquiring health care-associated infections. Highlight (Kinnos) is a novel color-additive technology for disinfectant wipes that helps users visualize surfaces that have been cleaned by producing a transient color on wiped surfaces that fades off after effective cleaning.

Methods: To quantify the impact of real-time visual feedback on room cleanliness and efficiency, a pre-post quasi-experimental study was conducted by comparing Replicate Organism Detection and Counting (RODAC) plate counts and room turnaround times with and without the use of the color additive.

Results: Compared with the control group of disinfectant alone, disinfection with the color additive resulted in a 69.2% improvement in room cleanliness accompanied by a 5.9% faster room turnover time.

Discussion: As far as we know, this study is the first to publish on the impact of a novel color additive on the environment of care as measured by microbial culturing and room turnaround times, finding advantages in both metrics relative to the status quo.

Conclusions: The use of real-time visual feedback can improve the thoroughness of disinfection cleaning while maintaining operational efficiency.