A study at the Central Texas Veterans Health Care System (CTVHCS) demonstrating that a copper-infused material is capable of reducing 80 percent of the bacterial contamination on surfaces surrounding a patient, according to an article on the Infection Control Today website.
The study, published in the American Journal of Infection Control, examined the amount of microbial contamination on overbed tables in occupied regular and isolation patient rooms.
While typical laminate overbed tables showed consistently high levels of bacterial contamination over the 30-hour sampling period, the copper-impregnated tables tested well below the threshold for patient safety, the article said.
The amount of microbiological or organic material present prior to decontamination or sterilization, has been demonstrated to correlate with patient infection rates.
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