Monitoring the effectiveness of daily cleaning practices in an intensive care unit (ICU) setting using an adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence assay.

Background: The degree to which daily intensive care unit (ICU) cleaning practices impacts bacterial burden is controversial. The study aimed to assess the utility of using adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence assays for monitoring effectiveness of daily cleaning in ICU environments.

Methods: We sampled 364 total samples from 57 patient rooms and 18 common areas in 3 medical ICUs over 12 weeks, before and after routine daily cleaning. Endpoints were ATP levels (relative light units, RLU) and bacterial bioburden (colony forming units, CFU).

Results: High-touch surfaces in ICU patient rooms and common areas were contaminated before and after cleaning. Routine cleaning significantly reduced bacterial burden in patient rooms (0.14 log CFU reduction, P = .008; 0.21 log RLU reduction, P < .001) and in ICU common areas (1.18 log CFU reduction, P < .001; 0.72 log RLU reduction, P < .001). Among sites with colony counts >20 CFUs, the proportion of sites with ATP readings >250 RLU was significantly higher than those with ATP readings ≤250 RLU (90.0% vs 10.0%, P < .05).

Conclusion: Routine cleaning significantly reduced bacterial burden on ICU environment surfaces. Although not an alternative to culture methods, ATP assays may be a useful technique to provide rapid feedback on surface cleanliness in ICU settings.