Effective cleaning in hospitals is a crucial part of ensuring good healthcare hygiene. Cleaning surfaces in close proximity to patients is the most effective way to prevent the spread of infection and healthcare-associated infections. However, for cleaning to be effective, objective controls are needed to measure hygiene levels. ATP is the most commonly recommended method, but few hospitals in Sweden use this technology.
Since 2017, the Swedish standard SS 8760014, “Cleaning and Sanitation to Reduce the Spread of Infection in Healthcare,” has been in effect; it describes ATP measurement as an objective monitoring method. The standard primarily describes the requirements for visible cleanliness, but it also provides recommendations for hygiene thresholds—that is, invisible contamination that can be measured microbiologically or with ATP-meter.
Unfortunately, however, in our experience, relatively few county councils currently use both the standard and ATP. One reason often cited by hygiene managers is that they find ATP difficult to implement.
In the United States, progress has been made in ATP. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has encouraged hospitals to develop a monitoring program to optimize the cleaning of high-risk surfaces (primarily touch surfaces) following the final cleaning of healthcare facilities. ATP has been the method most frequently discussed by the agency in this context.
The results of the CDC’s recommendations have been compiled by 3M Healthcare into an implementation guide for ATP testing. The guide can be used to plan programs for objective hygiene monitoring in Swedish hospitals as well. We at Hygiene Diagnostics believe it’s time for more ATP-meter healthcare! You can download the guide here:
If you have any questions about ATP for healthcare, please feel free to call Frank Axelsson at 0707 91 21 03. Email: [email protected]