Henry Ford Allegiance Health is now using germ-zapping robots to destroy dangerous germs on hospital surfaces and further reduce the potential for hospital-acquired infections.
The Xenex LightStrike™ Germ-Zapping Robot™ uses Full Spectrum™ pulsed xenon ultraviolet (UV) light to quickly destroy bacteria, viruses, fungi and bacterial spores. The portable disinfection system is also effective against pathogens such as C. diff, norovirus, influenza, Ebola and MRSA.
While UV has been used for disinfection for decades, the germ-zapping robot uses a new technology--pulsed xenon (not mercury bulbs) to create germicidal UV light. Pulsed xenon emits high intensity UVC light, which penetrates the cell walls of microorganisms, fuses the DNA and renders them unable to reproduce or mutate, effectively killing them on surfaces without contact or chemicals.
“The portable germ-zapping robot can disinfect a typical patient or procedure room in four or five minute cycles without warm-up or cool-down times,” said Henry Ford Allegiance Health Director of Hospitality Services Jason Hammond. “It can be used in any department and in any unit within a health care facility, including isolation rooms, operating rooms, general patient care rooms, contact precaution areas, emergency rooms, bathrooms and public spaces.”
Hammond also noted that rather than replacing team members who clean rooms, the arrival of the robots has included the addition of two new staff.
Henry Ford Health System is the only health system in the United States to use the Germ-Zapping Robots in every one of its locations.
