With over 150 attendees, nearly 20 exhibitors and a highly interactive set of presentations, panels, posters and facility tours, the National Institutes of Standards and Technology (NIST), in partnership with the International Ultraviolet Association (IUVA), presented a two day workshop in January 2020 on Ultraviolet Disinfection Technologies & Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs): Defining Standards and Metrology Needs. Dr. Walter Copan, Under Secretary of Commerce for Standards and Technology and NIST Director and Dr. Eric Lin, Director, NIST Material Measurement Laboratory, welcomed attendees and opened the event. The workshop examined technology, measurement, and standards needs as a way to promote further innovation in the development and use of ultraviolet technology for the reduction and prevention of HAIs. HAIs are recognized as an important public health and patient safety issue, and UV technology is considered an effective tool to combat HAIs. 
 
“This Workshop was the second in a series designed to encourage collaboration and consensus-building between researchers, infectious disease physicians, UV disinfection companies and regulators, both in the US and internationally,” says Dr. Richard Martinello, Medical Director, Infection Prevention, Yale New Haven Health. “The goal is to develop UV guidance that will help healthcare providers world-wide choose the best possible technologies for their institutions to use in the fight against multiple drug resistant organisms and other pathogens that cause HAIs.”
 
The event built on the efforts of the IUVA Healthcare/UV Task Force, dedicated to the development of efficacy guidelines and standards to help advance the adoption and safe use of UV technologies.  “It was exciting to discuss ways to validate the efficacy of UV technology with the largest group of equipment suppliers to the HAI market gathered in one place,” says Oliver Lawal, IUVA Immediate Past President, and President and CEO of AquiSense Technologies. “The IUVA looks forward to publishing the first outcomes of common guidelines for the use of this critical life-saving technology in healthcare environments.”
 
The IUVA Healthcare/UV Task Force is planning a follow up panel discussion and technical sessions at the 2020 IUVA Americas Conference, March 9-11, 2020 in Orlando, Florida.

For more information on the IUVA Task Force, please contact Troy Cowan, troy@visionbasedconsulting.us.