Cleaning Machine: Pine Crest Nursing Home Chooses Touchless Cleaning Unit for Wheelchair Cleaning

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In any healthcare facility, wheelchairs are an essential mode of transportation for both comprehensive patient care and institutional efficiency. In nursing homes and long-term care facilities, wheelchairs are also a conduit to the outside world. For the elderly and disabled, wheelchairs provide the mobility and freedom that they may not otherwise enjoy. Because residents of long-term care facilities spend a great portion of their days in a wheelchair, these mobile units must be well-maintained and sanitized regularly.

Oftentimes, that is easier said than done as wheelchairs are usually far down a facility’s hierarchy when it comes to the allotment of cleaning time, with other items like beds, patient rooms, and medical implements and equipment getting a higher priority. In fact, recent studies show that as few as 7 percent of wheelchairs are actually cleaned between uses. In addition to general uncleanliness, wheelchairs can also be repositories for germs and other contaminants, which can be a grave concern in these days of MRSA, H1N1 and other outbreaks of highly communicable diseases.

Realizing that the best interests of its residents, their families and the support staff are of the utmost importance, the Pine Crest Nursing Home, a 180-bed facility located in Merrill, WI, recently began looking for ways to increase the level of cleanliness for its wheelchair fleet. Previous wheelchair-cleaning regimens consisted of “spray and wipe” techniques that would take, on average, 20 minutes per chair, according to Nancy Weber, Central Supply Manager at Pine Crest Nursing Home. Acknowledging the inefficiency of this system, which still had the potential to leave the wheelchairs less clean than desired, Weber began the search for a solution.

“We looked into the automatic wheelchair cleaners currently on the market, but they were too big for our facility—we had nowhere to store and properly use such a massive piece of equipment; we would have had to permanently assign a janitor’s closet for that,” said Weber. “It just wasn’t the right answer.”

Then, while reading a trade magazine, she came across the ICS Mobile Touchless Cleaning System from Hydro Systems Company. Weber felt that the ICS’s portable, compact design was a good match for the Pine Crest facility, while its battery-powered operation would allow the cleaning staff to take the unit where it was needed, regardless of power-outlet availability. A demo of the ICS unit was all Weber needed to see to know she had found a solution.

“As soon as we began using the ICS, we saw what a great value and fit it was for our operation,” she explained. “The ICS wasn’t too big, we could store it in any of our janitorial closets and the fact that it was on wheels meant that we could roll it into any of our shower rooms to clean our wheelchairs.”

According to Weber, using the ICS has freed up 20 percent  of her staff’s cleaning time—all while delivering wheelchairs that are cleaner and safer. In fact, an ATP test conducted at Pine Crest showed that the microbial count on the wheelchairs was “0” after being cleaned with the ICS. Pine Crest is also experiencing a decrease in water and cleaning-chemical costs since the ICS consumes a fraction of the cleaning products that other cleaning units use, while it uses the cleaning products more efficiently than spray-and-wipe techniques.

The ATP test conducted at Pine Crest is another example of the sanitary effectiveness from the ICS spray-and-squeegee cleaning technology. To prove this point, a test was recently conducted to see just how effective spray-and-squeegee touchless cleaning technology is for wheelchair cleaning. The test found that wheelchairs cleaned with the ICS unit reduced the bioload by an average of 82 percent, providing a higher level of infection control for the patients. The full ATP results can be found at http://www.hydro-ics.com/en/images/pdfs/atp-wheelchairtest.pdf.

“The ICS works exactly as advertised,” said Weber. “It is simple to operate, uses less cleaning solution, it saves time and allows our employees to work more efficiently. Our experience with Hydro Systems has been wonderful and we look forward to becoming a repeat customer.”