Copper alloy surfaces sustain terminal cleaning levels in a rural hospital.

Objective: To assess the ability of copper alloy surfaces to mitigate the bacterial burden associated with commonly touched surfaces in conjunction with daily and terminal cleaning in rural hospital settings.

Design: A prospective intention-to-treat trial design was used to evaluate the effectiveness of cooper alloy surfaces and respective controls to augment infection control practices under pragmatic conditions.

Setting: Half of the patient rooms in the medical-surgical suite in a 49-bed rural hospital were outfitted with copper alloy materials. The control rooms maintained traditional plastic, metal, and porcelain surfaces.

Methods: The primary outcome was a comparison of the bacterial burden harbored by 20 surfaces and components associated with control and intervention areas for 12 months. Locations were swabbed regardless of the occupancy status of the patient room. Significance was assessed using nonparametric methods employing the Mann-Whitney U test with significance assessed at P < .05.

Results: Components fabricated using copper alloys were found to have significantly lower concentrations of bacteria, at or below levels prescribed, upon completion of terminal cleaning. Vacant rooms were found to harbor significant concentrations of bacteria, whereas those fabricated from copper alloys were found to be at or below those concentrations prescribed subsequent to terminal cleaning.

Conclusions: Copper alloys can significantly decrease the burden harbored on high-touch surfaces, and thus warrant inclusion in an integrated infection control strategy for rural hospitals.