Methods:
Rates of HAI caused by C. difficile and Multi Drug Resistant Organisms (MDROs) in 6 Sentara Healthcare hospitals with similar patient demographics (total of 1,019 beds) were compared over three parallel periods (90, 180 and 240 days) before and after replacing all the linens in in-patient rooms with copper infused biocidal linens.
Results:
During assessment periods 1 (90 days), 2 (180 days) and 3 (240 days), in comparison to baseline periods 1, 2 and 3, there were 61% (p=0.0116), 41% (p=0.027), and 43% (p=0.0096) reductions in the HAI per 10,000 patient hospitalization days caused by C. difficile , respectively; and 60% (p=0.0014), 40% (p=0.0145), and 37% (p=0.0108) reductions of HAI per 1,000 PD caused by C. difficile and MDROs combined.
Discussion:
The deployment of biocidal linens across six hospitals resulted in large and statistically significant drops in both C. difficile infections and combined C. difficile and MDRO infections during all three time periods. Study published in the November 2018 Journal of Hospital Infection.