Healthcare Surfaces Summit

Utilize broad-based evidence for prevention of infections in healthcare and other settings to design and disseminate a toolbox to help interrupt the spread of infections from surfaces.

Create and disseminate tools, resources, educational material, and other critical information for providers, patients, and the public to reduce transmission of surface related pathogens. A range of materials including infographics, presentations, checklists, training parameters, and educational curricula will be developed to target individuals at all levels of awareness to improve their knowledge, skills, and ability to act as agents of change.

Design and build critical healthcare environments to use as a simulation test site to holistically evaluate the compatibility of surface materials and textiles disinfectants, products, and processes as well as human behavior. The incubator will also serve as a test site for the development of consistent testing and validation standards that provides data and evaluation of the ways surfaces support microbial acquisition and transmission.

There are many different surface materials and textiles within healthcare that are not compatible with infection prevention products and processes. As a foundational issue, it is extremely concerning to know that there are currently no guidelines, standards or validation requirements to ensure that surfaces can be cleaned, disinfected and or sterilized.

This program will develop a certification process that will require surface and product manufacturers to test and validate that not only the surface material but also the product ie. .medical device or environment can be cleaned and disinfected before healthcare professionals make a purchase.