Hospitals have strict rules around washing hands, wearing sterile scrubs and gloves, and using masks. However, shoes are commonly ignored.
Shoe sanitizing stations and UV light sanitizers for shoes proactively limit bacteria and pathogens that enter and leave hospitals.
Read on to learn more about how a UV sanitizer for shoes can help hospitals reduce the spread of germs.
Pathogens Spread Rampantly in Hospitals
Hospitals are the perfect breeding grounds for bacteria and other pathogens. Despite all the measures hospitals employ to maintain a sterile environment, pathogens still spread. It’s unfeasible to measure all the bacteria coming into the hospital via clothing and shoes, and the potential for hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) exists nonetheless.
Common types of HAIs include:
- Surgical site infections
- Sepsis
- Urinary tract infections
- Respiratory tract infections
- Clostridium difficile infections
Acquiring infections occurs in various ways, including through person-to-person contact, hospital procedures, and even via antibiotic misuse.
Shoe Sanitizing Solutions
There are many ways to limit the spread of pathogens in hospitals, and technology is providing more advanced ways to tackle the issue. While hand-sanitizing stations are commonplace, shoe sanitizing is quickly becoming the standard to minimize the risk of HAIs spreading as staff members track bacteria through the hospital on their shoes.
Here are several benefits of a UV sanitizer for shoes in a hospital.
Use Light to Kill Pathogens
UV shoe sanitizers use disinfection technology to quickly and effectively eliminate bacteria and pathogens. In less than one minute, these sanitizers use powerful UVC light to kill 99.99% of bacteria on shoes without any need for solvents, soap, or disinfecting solutions. Six seconds is all it takes to wipe out microbes.
Kill 99.99% of Bacteria
Using O3 ozone generators, UVC shoe sanitizers reduce the number of airborne contaminants quickly. Paired with UVC radiation light, this combination is more than 100 times more effective than just UVC light. The sanitizers take no effort to run; simply plug them in, and they work independently whenever needed.
UVC light is even clinically proven to eliminate germs and kill microbes that cause athlete’s foot, toenail fungus, foot odor, and shoe odor.
Benefits of UV Sanitizers for Shoes
Shoe and floor contamination is a real concern, especially in hospitals and other healthcare environments. While shoes remain on the floor and patients are unlikely to catch HAIs directly from a shoe, dirty shoes contribute to continuous floor contamination. UV shoe sanitizers reduce the issue by eliminating bacteria and other microbes before they can start spreading on floors.
Eliminating Bacteria from Shoes
With all the effort hospitals place into sterilization and disinfecting, it is counterintuitive to enter a hospital with shoes covered in bacteria. Most shoes come into contact with E. coli, and with shoes passing through every space and finding their way onto tables, chairs, and other surfaces, the microbes can easily spread.
If all shoes pass through a UV sanitizer before entering the clean hospital environment, pathogens have a much lower chance of spreading.
Stopping Germs Before They Spread
Shoes are a seemingly insignificant source of spreading germs, but we all wear them and don’t always think about how dirty our shoes are before propping them on tables or chairs or tying our shoelaces. But in a hospital, where eliminating pathogens is so important, removing germs on shoes before they can spread is a proactive solution.
UV sanitization kills germs before entering the hospital and kills any germs picked up inside the hospital upon exiting.
Improve Patient Health by Limiting Microbes
Shoes come into contact with just about everything and can easily host bacteria and other pathogens. Using an efficient and streamlined method such as a UV sanitizer for shoes helps limit the spread of germs in hospitals easily and with little disruption.
Pathogen Solutions is an industry leader in providing safe, functional, technologically advanced solutions to sanitization. To learn more about how our products are improving health and operations in hospitals and healthcare settings, contact us to schedule a free demo today.