Prevention of Hospital-Acquired Infections: How Germinator Can Help Medical Facilities

November 16, 2021

We would typically believe that hospitals and medical facilities would be the cleanest and most hygienic places in our communities. However, it wasn't always that way, and yet today, hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) still occur. The CDC's HAI Data Report states that "On any given day, about one in 31 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated infection." The prevention of HAIs is a work in progress, and hospitals are doing a better job than 60 years ago when the concept of preventing HAIs was still in its infancy.

Nevertheless, any incident is too much for a family to bear for those loved ones that came in to seek treatment and ended up receiving double the care. Doctors, hospital staff, and patients are human, and we all make mistakes when it comes to cleanliness and hygiene. What can hospitals do to prevent HAIs, and what can we do using our patent-pending services to help improve the sanitization and disinfection that hospitals need to keep in place at all times?

Steps That Help Prevent HAIs

HAIs can be costly, not only insurance-wise, but they can result in bodily harm and even death. There are many preventative measures that medical facilities and hospitals can implement to help reduce the threat and spread of infectious diseases.

We will begin with the most important preventative measure that staff, patients, and visitors should always be doing, and that is proper handwashing. It sounds simple enough, and you would think that it's a routine thing that doctors and nurses would normally do; however, did you know that "more than half of doctors make this simple and dangerous mistake" of not washing their hands?

Rigorous hand washing for at least 20 seconds with warm water and soap is the foundation of preventing HAIs. Everyone, including visitors, should be washing their hands before and after drinking and eating, especially doctors or nurses who are providing care in between patients. The medical staff should wash their hands when they touch surfaces, use medical equipment, come in contact with bodily fluids or wounds, before handling medication, moving one body to another location, when touching the patient, and removing their gloves. Now that we're on the subject of "gloves," we'll mention why they are essential for preventing HAIs and other items as well.

Donning and Doffing Personal Protective Equipment

It goes without saying that gloves significantly reduce the chances of a patient acquiring a hospital-acquired infection. However, some medical professionals may not always wear gloves when interacting with the patient. This can become problematic when the medical staff is a little too lax with infection-control protocols (we'll touch upon this later) and fail to wear their personal protective equipment (PPE) fully. Doffing and donning protocols are simply when a surgeon or doctor fully puts on their PPE garments. To prevent HAIs, when doctors are donning PPE, they wash their hands first, put on shoe covers, a gown, a mask or respirator (if necessary), eye protection, and finally gloves. The opposite is called doffing PPE, where the surgeon or doctor takes off their PPE and leaves handwashing last. These preventative measures are an important part of helping to reduce the spread of infection. With that said, we'll dive into how medical facilities help prevent HAIs with an infection-control policy

Establish an Infection-Control Policy

What's stated above is just part of what all hospitals and medical facilities have as part of their infection prevention strategy and policies. According to the CDC, there are two types of standard operating procedures that all personnel must practice in the healthcare setting. You have the "Standard Precautions for All Patient Care" and the "Transmission-Based Precautions" procedures.

In short, the standard and transmission-based precautions that medical staff must adhere to are very stringent, yet HAIs still occur. They must frequently wash their hands, wear PPE, use clean linens, place their patient in the appropriate room based on their medical condition, limit the transport of patients, dispose of medical equipment, and finally properly sanitize and disinfect medical equipment, surfaces, and patient rooms. Transmission-based precautions are for those who are suspected of being highly contagious, so the medical staff will take extra precautions in addition to the standard precautions for patients and limit the amount of personnel in the room as well.

Germinator's Patent-Pending Medical Facility Sanitizing and Disinfecting Process

With all these procedures in place, all medical staff must do what they can to prevent HAIs and go the extra mile with their sanitization and disinfection of medical equipment, surfaces, and rooms. It's all about creating a clean and hygienic environment for patients, staff, and visitors. This is where Germinator can shine with its patent-pending medical facility sanitizing and disinfecting program.



When we enter a medical facility, we first test your surfaces for ATP using a luminometer to detect light that can come from cellular activity. This measurement immediately tells us the level of clean on your surfaces.

Next, we'll apply Genesis. Genesis is a one-step cleaner and broad-spectrum sanitizer and disinfectant treatment that harnesses the power of hypochlorous acid (HOCl). Derived from naturally occurring minerals, Genesis not only eliminates odors at their source but kills a wide range of bacteria, including Staphylococcus aureus, MRSA, Salmonella enterica and Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and viruses including norovirus, rotavirus, and adenovirus on hard, non-porous, environmental surfaces. It meets the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (AOAC) germicidal spray standards for Hospital Grade Disinfection and is on the EPA's N List of products determined to meet the criteria for use against SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19. As a result, this treatment will eliminate bacteria and viruses that may reside in your environment without the use of harsh chemicals or fumes.

After that, we'll apply our Shield. The Shield is a water-based quaternary ammonium compound that imparts a durable bacteriostatic finish to a wide range of non-food contact surfaces. It is EPA-registered as effective against mold, mildew, algae and odor-causing bacteria. This application creates an invisible barrier that combats deterioration and discoloration and promotes freshness for up to three months.

The Genesis and Shield products are applied by using an electrostatic sprayer, which is the most efficient and effective means of delivering the products to the intended application sites.

After our surface treatment and protectant services, we retest to ensure the surfaces have achieved the intended results of being clean and hygienic.

What Can Medical Facilities Do Today?

It's simple. We encourage any hospital or medical facility administrator to fill out the form at the bottom of this page to connect with a representative who is standing by ready to schedule service. To learn more about Germinator, call us at 855-NO-GERMZ (664-3769). We look forward to helping you create cleaner and more hygienic environments for your medical facility today.