For Immediate Release:
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Michael Diamond, Co-founder of The Infection Prevention Strategy at
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Top Innovations of the Year: 2018
‘Join. Contribute. Make A Difference.’
HAMILTON, Ontario, Canada – August 29, 2018: The Infection Prevention Strategy is pleased to announce our Top Innovations of the Year: 2018.
InfectionControl.tips and The Infection Prevention Strategy declares no conflict of interest. No funds or influence were provided to InfectionControl.tips by any parties.
Listed below, in random order, are the Top Innovations of the Year: 2018, as determined by InfectionControl.tips, based on our Call to Action for engagement and innovation.
FILT’RAY2G Technology
aqua-tools
www.legionella-filters.com
FILT’RAY 2G filters are recommended for preventing Healthcare Associated Infections (HAis) from waterborne pathogens by constituting an immediate physical barrier against all water contaminants. This technology enables you to rapidly secure faucets, showers and ice machines and ensures a high flow-rate for increased ease of use.
These filters will prevent the discharge of planktonic legionella and pseudomonas, and other waterborne pathogens from water. They can be used as a temporary measure throughout a building, and as a long-term measure in high risk facilities with
immune-compromised patients.
The aqua-tools filters have a higher tolerance to early blockage due to a self-cleaning membrane – Bubl’air Wash™ – which results in a longer lasting filter. The ultra-resistant, tubular membrane provides sterilizing-grade microfiltration and preserves the water’s sensory qualities.
Bed Techs
Bed Techs, Inc.
www.bedtechs.com/antimicrobial/bt-amt-home
Bed Techs Antimicrobial Technologies is a treatment applied to existing hospital beds to completely encapsulate the high-touch surfaces with antimicrobial copper materials to kill the bacteria around a patient’s primary care area and reduce the risk of infection transmission. The process utilizes proprietary EPA-Registered technologies from LuminOre Copper Touch and Mr. Label Control Panel Technologies.
Efficacy of copper surfaces in reducing bacteria has been shown in both laboratory testing for the EPA and in clinical studies, consistently showing 85-95% reduction of bacteria on copper surfaces compared to plastic, metal or wood control surfaces. BT AMT can be applied to any bed make or model.
This system provides a technology to keep near-patient bed surfaces continuously cleaner between cleaning, including side rails, bed controls, headand foot-boards, and handles. The treatment kills the bacteria that cause hospital infections. While other cleaning methodologies can reduce bio-load, this technology is active, without human intervention and without additional training, 24 hours a day.
CleanCision Wound Retraction
and Protection System
Prescient Surgical
www.prescientsurgical.com
CleanCision is the first, advanced irrigating wound protection system. Designed for use during surgery, it combines wound retraction, irrigation, protection and suction into an intuitive system that fights and defends against the most pervasive sources of infection to maintain a healthy surgical incision.
Unlike traditional methods, which cannot continuously and consistently clear contamination from the surgical site, CleanCision utilizes active cleansing technology to clear harmful bacteria throughout surgery when the threat of wound contamination is at its highest.
Developed by surgeons and infection control experts, CleanCision is easy-to-use, seamlessly integrating into surgical workflow and infection prevention bundles.
Currently approved for use in abdominal surgery, CleanCision gives surgical teams more control over the sources of surgical site infection for better outcomes for patients.
Fitsi
Fitsi Health
www.fitsihealth.com
Fitsi Health solves an obvious but overlooked problem – patient hand hygiene. No one argues against patients having clean hands but very few are engaged in empowering patients to achieve this goal. Fitsi is the first hand hygiene solution designed specifically for patients.
Fitsi holds hand sanitizer along with personal items giving patients the ability to clean their hands and access personal items without the help of a caregiver, saving time and money. Fitsi easily clips on and off bed rails, can be carried, and rests on any flat surface. Its patented design can even be rotated to stay level when the head of a hospital bed moves up and down.
Highlight
Kinnos Inc.
www.kinnos.us
Kinnos Inc. is a New York-based company that protects patients, health workers, and the general public from infections. Studies have shown that more than 50% of surfaces in healthcare settings are not properly cleaned, leading to hundreds of thousands of infections and billions of dollars lost globally every single year; yet, 40-90% of infections could be prevented with better compliance with disinfectant usage. Kinnos’s flagship technology, Highlight , is a patented color additive combined with existing disinfectants that eliminates human error from environmental cleaning. Highlight-enhanced disinfectants are colorized to ensure complete coverage on surfaces and then fades in color to provide real-time visual feedback when the contact time has been met and decontamination is done. Highlight allows even untrained workers to immediately use a disinfectant correctly every single time they disinfect a surface. Unlike other infection prevention technologies that attempt to address human error post-cleaning, Highlight is designed to fundamentally improve cleaning technique and human behavior within the framework of existing products and processes that are already commonly used in healthcare settings.
Highlight was a grantee of the USAID Fighting Ebola Grand Challenge, was a winner of the USPTO’s Patents for Humanity Award, has been field-tested in Liberia, Guinea, DR Congo, and Haiti for Ebola and cholera outbreaks, and is used by leading NGOs, hospitals, and laboratories for training and routine decontamination.
FLOORX
Harbor Innovations
www.harborinnovations.com
With the latest in UV-C LED technology, FLOORX kills over 94% of potentially harmful microbes in just 10 seconds. This is the cutting edge in floor-based surface disinfection – suitable for hospitals, assisted living facilities, retirement homes and any commercial or residential facility concerned with surface contamination. Due to its incredible low profile, FLOORX offers a super-thin sanitizing station for foot traffic; it is ADA-compliant in both a rapid deployable module and a permanently installed solution.
FLOORX is ingress-protected from water and dust, allowing the cleaning staff to maintain its current floor treatment protocols. To ensure user safety, FLOORX utilizes a smart matrix based on infrared proximity sensors, a patented technology designed to illuminate only the relevant UV-C LEDs under the user’s foot.
CURIS System
CURIS System
www.curissystem.com
CURIS System merges the most advanced data monitoring and the most thorough method of safe disinfection to bring you the latest in portable decontamination. In the past, room disinfection was something reserved for only gaseous systems with hazardous levels of chemicals. Now, thanks to advances in technology, you can achieve similar efficacy-99.9999%-with a safer, scalable, and more versatile system: CURIS. Unlike other hydrogen peroxide mist products on the market, after the initial “fog,” CURIS’s patented Pulse technology cycles on and off during treatment to replenish vital levels of its low-level H202 solution, ensuring an optimal kill zone without saturation or under treatment.
In a world where everything is documented to defend, reinforce, train, and track information, CURIS System Data Management (CSDM) is your protection and advocate., an essential tool for Risk Management. With real-time unbiased data, CSDM provides you the peace of mind knowing your disinfection efforts are documented and available for analysis.
CURIS System is a dynamic tool enabling facilities to provide healthy spaces in virtually any environment. At just 36 lbs., this powerful system is winning the battle against dangerous pathogens in and out of the healthcare environment, treating not only entire rooms but their contents as well, raising the bar for high-level disinfection.
Clean Hands – Safe Hands
Clean Hands – Safe Hands
www.cleanhands-safehands.com
Clean Hands – Safe Hands (CHSH) helps reduce hospital-acquired infections (HAis) by increasing hand hygiene. Our unique technology provides unprecedented insights in quickly identifying the most efficient path to improving hand hygiene and reducing HAis. Our patented process, which includes gamification, nurtures a culture of proactive HAI prevention based on individual and team hand hygiene performance. This positive and supportive approach was designed by physicians and technologists partnering together.
And it works! Every hospital that has used our technology and followed our process for at least six months has seen a decrease in HAis of between 45% and 81 %. Not only has this saved millions of dollars, it has also reduced human suffering and saved lives.
LuminOre CopperTouch
LuminOre CopperTouch
www.luminorect.com
LuminOre CopperTouch Antimicrobial Surfaces are the only EPA registered antimicrobial product which can be seamlessly applied to virtually any surface. This unique product makes coppers natural antimicrobial properties available on items that would be too heavy if made of solid metal and which are now being made with LuminOre CopperTouch Antimicrobial Surfaces at a fraction of the weight and the cost.
LuminOre CopperTouch has developed state of the art techniques to fuse the patented LuminOre CopperTouch Antimicrobial Surfaces to lightweight substrates in sizes, shapes and contours that never before were possible, bringing antimicrobial touch surfaces to customers with healthcare, commercial and consumer applications.
Rite Rod System
Rite Decorative Products Ltd.
www.riterod.com
The revolutionary curtain rod system that will save facilities time and money. Incredibly, an employee can complete 25 days of work in just 1 day using our Rite Rod System.
With the Rite Arm, removing and replacing soiled, bloodied, contaminated or infected curtains becomes simple and quick. No need for a ladder or moving beds and equipment which greatly cuts the time needed to accomplish the task and helps minimize patient disruptions.
The Innovation Studio
Ohio State University
www.go.osu.edu/innovationstudio
The Innovation Studio is designed, both physically and through its operating model, to empower a diverse population of Ohio State students, faculty, and staff to try, fail, succeed, and ultimately bring their innovative ideas to fruition. The Innovation Studio provides a platform for many new innovators and budding entrepreneurs who would not otherwise receive funding, support, and encouragement to pursue their ideas. Our projects range from a graduate student’s scientifically-sound children’s book to a career nurse creating a patent on a work-around prototype she’s been using to prevent in-hospital overdoses. In a little over a year of operation, the Innovation Studio has received 94 Innovation submissions, heard 82 pitches, funded 62 teams through their 1st round, 16 in their 2nd, 3 in their 3rd round of funding, and 1 team into their 4th round of funding for a total award of $55,200
So what makes up the Innovation Studio? Physically, it is a 16 by 16 foot space made from a combination of Plexiglas walls and foam board. Housed inside the studio is an array of tools ranging from hammers and saws to 3d printers, raspberry pies, and a laser cutter. We refer to the design as a unique, moveable maker space. Although the Innovation Studio is operated by the Ohio State University College of Nursing, in the spirit of interprofessional collaboration, the Studio is assembled at different colleges across campus with residencies ranging from the College of Engineering to the Department of Design to the James Cancer Research Center.
The Innovation Studio stays at each location for a residency of around two months to help foster interprofessional collaboration and enable the students, staff, and faculty in that section of the university to work on an innovative solution, project, or product. Projects are pitched during the Innovation Studio Showcase at the end of each residency and funding, with constructive feedback, is awarded.
Unger Excella
Unger Enterprises LLC
www.ungerglobal.com
Unger Excella has been independently verified to clean and seal floors twice as fast as traditional methods. An independent study conducted by ManageMen, Inc. concluded that the Unger Excella™ cleaned 4,878 square feet per hour, compared to just 2,S64 square feet per hour with a 24oz. string mop head, nearly doubling efficiency. The Unger Excella combines dual-swivel handles and a self-guiding S-curve pole, providing a mopping system that is “self-steering”. The system is the first one available that includes both a height adjustable pole and the ability to dispense liquid from the bottle on board. This combination of features provides dramatically faster cleaning with less strain, stress and effort than any other mop currently available.
Viruskiller Technology
Radic8
www.Radic8.com
Radic8 is a new kind of technology company. They have re-imagined the problem of combatting air pollution as an opportunity, transforming it from a cost to a cost- saving. They have achieved this through a combined strategy of providing world- leading technology to deal with indoor air quality problems, and by creating innovative marketing tools to help businesses benefit from sharing clean air.
It all starts with cutting-edge air sterilisation technology, capable of removing toxic gases, particulate matter and viruses from indoor air. In 2017, Radic8 launched their impressive range of air purifiers and sterilisers to suit all market places and all needs. With impressive test results and stylish designs, they have attracted a distribution network that is growing rapidly around the world.
Silver Seal Glow Waterproof Keyboard
Seal Shield LLC
www.sealshield.com
Seal Shield is the leading developer of medical keyboards that are waterproof and include antimicrobial product protection, the two most critical components for effective medical keyboards. Seal Shield’s keyboards are 100% waterproof, so they can be cleaned with sprays or wipes without ever being disconnected or powered down. Seal Shield waterproof keyboards are fully washable. They can be soaked in bleach, washed in a sink or even cleaned in an automatic dishwasher. Seal Shield’s waterproof keyboards are independently certified to IP-68, which is the highest rating against dust, debris and liquid ingress.
Seal Shield keyboards are available in numerous sizes, styles, and colors to suit any environment. Seal Shield Medical keyboards are available with cable size and connection options including long cable, Quick Connect™ cable, USB, PS/2, RF wireless, and Bluetooth. Only Seal Shield washable keyboards include a SEAL CAP™ USB protector, which protects the gold plated USB connector against water intrusion during full submersion. Seal Shield Medical Keyboards are available in IBM style, true type construction or with low profile keys.
SKYwello
Wello Inc.
www.welloinc.com
SKYwello provides automatic, hands-free foodborne illness prevention. In seconds, SKYwello will scan every food item within designated zones, reducing the time for manual line checks. If a food item is out of safe temperature range, SKYwello instantly alerts designated personal, on or off site, so immediate corrective actions can be taken. Food item images are stamped with time, date, and temperature and are stored in the “Cloud”. This secure data cannot be altered and is easily accessible for compliance documentation or reporting.
HealthySole Plus Technology
HealthySole LLC
www.healthysole.com
HealthySole® Plus’ patented technology is the first and only UVC shoe sole, dedicated footwear, boot or bootie disinfection device on the market that has been independently clinically tested and studied for efficacy in killing infection and contamination causing pathogens. The HealthySole® Plus technology has been examined and studied by multiple 3rd party academic research and healthcare institutions for it’s efficacy on the most common organisms that lead to contamination and HAi’s. These studies have produced replicable published results in efficacy and significant overall decrease of environmental microbial load up to 99% in 8 seconds.
By killing the vast majority of micro organisms on footwear, HealthySole® significantly decreases the overall environmental microbial load, thus creating a much cleaner and safer environment for patients and staff when used prior to entering or exiting a critical or germ sensitive area. HealthySole® Plus technology is extremely useful in any environment or industry where pathogens lead to contamination or infection. HealthySole® Plus devices are currently being used in public, private and federal healthcare institutions as well as in the food processing, pharmaceutical and EMS industries both in the US and throughout the world.
STAT EPID
NSF International
www.nsfresearch.org
STAT EPID is a novel contamination monitoring service launched by NSF International in 2018. Through microbiological sampling, STAT EPID offers an opportunity for environmental services staff, infection preventionist, and cleaning companies to verify cleanliness of environmental surfaces in the patient area. Using STAT EPID, healthcare workers can swab high-touch surfaces in a patient room and send them for analysis to determine contamination count. This customizable service can be used to investigate an outbreak, to evaluate cleaning efficacy, or to monitor for specific problematic pathogens in a healthcare facility. With STAT EPID, assurance is provided that a surface is not only clean, but contamination-free.
Founded in 1944, NSF International is a global independent organization committed to protecting human health and safety worldwide. NSF’s laboratories provide a wide range of testing, certification and technical services as well as human health risk assessments across all major industries. We operate more than 320,000 square feet of ISO/IEC 17025-accredited, state-of-the-art labs.
Yankaddy
Myers Devices LLC
www.Yankaddy.com
The Yankaddy is a disposable holster that retains the Yankauer suction instrument to prevent the spread of healthcare-associated infections in the workplace environment caused by the daily haphazard use of the Yankauer. The Yankaddy attaches to its reusable bracket that can easily be affixed to most surfaces, including IV poles, bed rails, and counter tops. The bracket features a spring clamp and adjustable swivel arm that is easy to move with one hand, giving the medical provider a patient-safety advantage by having the Yankauer where they need it, when they need it. Putting “Infection Control at Your Fingertips”
Cordless Electrostatic Handheld Sprayer
Victory Innovations
www.victorycomplete.com
At Victory Innovations we set out to change the world for chemical application; we wanted to find a way to make it easier, faster and more effective to apply chemistry. We came up with the first cordless electrostatic sprayer that is easier to use, and its convenience, from set-up to tear down and everything in between, makes it the ideal sprayer for your needs. With a long battery life and double charge technology used on the liquid, it ensures complete and consistent coverage so that you are using less solution and spending less time during the application process, all which saves you time and money. Victory sprayers have many different functionalities, it can be used for sanitization, decontamination, pest control and odor control across many different industries.
Nimbus + Microburst
Nevoa, Inc.
www.nevoainc.com
The Nimbus whole room disinfection system is designed specifically to be so fast and simple it is used in Every Room, Every Time before a new patient checks in. This means less manual cleaning time and the assurance of an EPA Registration that ALL surfaces in the room are completely disinfected. The Nevoa Microburst Solution is an EPA-Registered Hospital Grade Disinfectant developed to be used exclusively with Nimbus. Microburst’s powerful formulation is a pH-Neutral hypochlorous acid solution (HOCI). HOCI is a unique, environmentally safe disinfectant type that occurs naturally in the human body to kill invasive organisms and fight infection. The Rapid Room Disinfection and Dehumidification (R2D2) process starts with the activation of the HOCI disinfectant through using the Patented Peel, Push, Shake cap on the Microburst bottle. After Nimbus atomizes the Microburst solution into the room, this disinfectant cloud is then completely removed by the powerful dehumidifier – leaving the room completely safe, dry and ready to enter as soon as the cycle is complete. The entire R2D2 process typically takes less time than the industry average 45-minute terminal cleaning – and results in a 100% higher level of efficacy.
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