Effectiveness of antimicrobial curtains in infection control

Tom Claffey, MD, Director of the Infectious Diseases Division, Maine Medical Center, describes the findings of a new study that highlights the important role that antimicrobial curtains could play in decreasing the transmission of infectious bacteria.

The University of Iowa in the US has been instrumental in providing the latest evidence on the role that soft surfaces – such as hospital privacy curtains – play in infection control. In the April 2012 issue of the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC),¹ research from the Department of Internal Medicine, in the Carver College of Medicine, revealed that 95% of the curtains examined were contaminated at least once during the study with pathogens such as Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and 18 with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE).

Moreover, this contamination occurred rapidly – 92% of the freshly laundered curtains hung during the study were contaminated within one week.

Multiple studies have shown the correlation between a cleaner patient environment, lower infection rates and reduced risk of transmission. No matter how diligently a hospital is cleaned and maintained, the AJIC study illustrates that these facilities are so overwhelmed with the number of pathogenic bacteria that it is difficult for staff to keep up.

Now, the most recent findings from the University of Iowa,² indicate that privacy curtains integrated with antimicrobial properties may potentially play a role in removing bioburden from the patient environment. Healthcare facilities may find addressing the soft surfaces of their operations, including curtains, scrubs, sheets and more, is an effective horizontal strategy for addressing healthcare associated infections (HAIs) across the board.

The study was led by Dr Marin Schweizer at the University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. It was the first of its kind for a privacy curtain with antimicrobial properties. Until then, no other such curtain had undergone and succeeded in a randomised controlled trial (RCT) to assess its effectiveness in a clinical setting.