ATP measurement as an objective method to measure environmental contamination in 9 hospitals in the Dutch/Belgian border area.

Abstract

Background The objective of this study was to determine the level of environmental contamination in hospitals in the Dutch/Belgian border area, using ATP measurements. Design A cross-sectional observational survey Methods Standardized ATP measurements were conducted in 9 hospitals on 32 hospital wards. Thirty pre-defined surfaces per hospital ward were measured with the 3M Clean Trace NG luminometer. Results are displayed in relative light units (RLU). RLU >1000 was considered as “not clean.” Differences in RLU values were compared between countries, hospitals, fomite groups and medical specialties. Results A total of 960 ATP measurements were performed, ranging from 60 up to 120 per hospital. The median RLU-value was 568 (range: 3 – 277,586) and 37.7% of the measurements were rated as not clean (RLU >1000). There were significant differences between countries, hospitals and fomite groups. Conclusion ATP measurements can be used as a more objective approach to determine the level of environmental contamination in hospitals. Significant differences in ATP levels were found between hospitals and between countries. Also, substantial differences were found between different fomite groups. These findings offer potential targets for improvement of cleanliness in healthcare facilities.

One-year monitoring SARS-CoV-2 RNA surface contamination in hospitals reveals no correlation with organic material and negative pressure as a limiting factor for contamination

“…Measurements were carried out by 100 cm 2 area (10 cm × 10 cm) for 5 s. The results of the ATP measurements were expressed as Relative Light Units (RLU)/cm 2 . According to the infection committee of Hospital A and previous work [ 23 ], the threshold of ATP measurement to consider a dirty surface is 3000 RLUs/100 cm 2 .…”