There are a few team members in the Finley Hospital Environmental Services department who never take a day off, never get sick, and don’t even take breaks for lunch or to use the restroom.

First there was Kenny, then Abby, then Oscar, R2D2 and now Fin – they’re all LightStrike UV light devices used to aid in the fight against dangerous pathogens by zapping the germs with powerful UV light. Finley Hospital is the first facility in Iowa to invest in a LightStrike+ device, which is the first and only “Whole Room Microbial Reduction” medical device authorized by the FDA to be marketed and distributed in the United States.

“Finley Hospital is continually taking steps to reduce the risk of pathogen transmission to our patients, because providing quality care is at the center of everything we do,” said Pat Lehmkuhl, the hospital’s Infection Prevention Program Manager. “We’ve been incorporating these robots for quite some time as part of our room turnover process in addition to our standard cleaning protocol. We added the new FDA authorized LightStrike+ robot to our disinfection strategy because we want to ensure that we are doing everything we can to provide the cleanest possible environment for our patients and employees.”

Finley Hospital is an innovator in the use of UV technology as part of its disinfection strategy and the LightStrike robots are considered part of the hospital’s Environmental Services (EVS) team. In fact, germ-zapping has been common practice since Finley Hospital got its first LightStrike robot, Kenny, back in 2014. The newest, Fin, is a LightStrike+ robot. LightStrike robots use a xenon lamp to create high-intensity, broad-spectrum ultraviolet (UV) light that quickly reduces the number of pathogens on surfaces and helps break the chain of pathogen transmission from surfaces to patients and healthcare workers.

The robots are used to significantly reduce pathogens in inpatient rooms and surgical areas. With as fast as a 2-minute cycle-time for microbial reduction, the LightStrike+ device is built upon accumulated knowledge from more than a decade of best practices implemented at healthcare facilities, 193 patents, and industry leading technical and epidemiological expertise.

After standard discharge cleaning processes are complete, hospital Environmental Services team members wheel the LightStrike robot in the room, place it next to the bed, begin the automated system and exit the room. The robots report utilization to a cloud-based portal so hospital officials are able to track who is using the robot and where it’s being operated, which provides the hospital with important performance information to ensure cleaning protocols are followed.

“Every day at Finley Hospital we strive to deliver an exceptional experience to our patients and team members. Eliminating pathogens is a key component of providing a clean, safe environment of care,” said Anne Johnston, Finley Hospital’s Vice President of Operations.

To learn more about the Xenex UV light device, visit www.xenex.com.

PHOTO: Robot Training: Finley Hospital Environmental Services team members are trained on using the hospital’s newest cleaning robot, a Xenex LightStrike+. The machine is used to reduce the number of pathogens in inpatient rooms and surgical areas with UV light.