A Conversation With … Cindy Robertson

CoxHealth invested $200,000 in a pair of germ-zapping robots.

CoxHealth recently invested at least $200,000 in the portable Xenex system – a germ-zapping robot. How does it work?
It’s a pulsed light. The technology interrupts the DNA cells of the microorganism. The light is very intense and disrupts the cell cycle so it can’t replicate, and that kills it.

I actually started this in my master’s program at MU. For a class, I had to do a lit review of a new technology. I knew there was talk of these ultraviolet robots. I read all the literature and came to the conclusion this is an up-and-coming technology hospitals are going to want.

What bacteria can it kill?
Primarily, your gram negatives. It will kill viruses, too. We’ve talked about the Zika virus a lot lately. We are unsure if it will kill that because it hasn’t been in the environment enough, but there was some work done back with Ebola. It was proven to kill that, so we are thinking it will probably work on Zika. We haven’t had enough Zika in the United States to really know. And, there are only about 100 health systems in the U.S. using the machine. It’s only been around about four years.

Does the health system plan to spend more on this technology?
Each machine is $100,000, and we have two. This is our test year. Before Cox will invest in more, we want to make sure they are actually making a difference.

How will this benefit the hospital?
With humans cleaning a room, you can look at a surface and it looks clean. We also have to use chemicals, which can be very harsh to sensitive equipment. This is an extra layer of attention and a patient safety thing.

Right now, it’s not a timesaver, it’s an extra step. They are still going in and wiping things down as they always did, plus things like flipping the mattress and stuff so the light can penetrate it. It runs for 4 minutes on each side of the bed. The light doesn’t penetrate organic materials, so if there were blood of body tissue, you would still need to clean that up.

Is the light safe for humans?
You don’t want anybody in the room because the intensity of the ultraviolet light can cause sunburn or skin rash. They run it from outside the room. There are two safety mechanisms. If someone opens the door, it automatically shuts the machine off. There’s also one on the outside that controls the robot.

What’s the next step?
We are getting ready to do a research study. I found a lot of data out there that says it will kill the microorganisms, but not any out there that says it will reduce infections in the hospital setting. That’s what I want to prove; that’s my hypothesis. I believe using the machine will reduce the infection. The Infection Prevention Department currently tracks all infection in the hospital. As soon as we are over the initiation period of getting it in use, then, starting in April, we are going to start collecting data. We will collect for six months to a year, depending on how long it takes to see a change in infection rates.

Why is this something CoxHealth wanted to invest in?
Cox is committed to patient safety. They really wanted to be one of the front-runners on this technology. I actually took the research I did in college and presented that to a technology committee here. I got approval, contingent that we can reduce infections. There is a lot riding on that, for me, to make sure this program is successful. If we can prove that, we can purchase more machines.

What’s the end goal?
The goal is to have one machine per floor. We are projecting, if we get to buy two more next year, we are going to put one at Meyer Orthopedic and Rehab Hospital and one more here at Cox South. Eventually, we’d like to put one down in Branson.