Clear steps you can take to determine if your accounts have the right surface disinfection products on hand.
By Paul Girouard
The dust has settled. The peaks and valleys of supply and demand of surface disinfection have gotten back to normal. Now is the perfect time to make a quick assessment of what surface disinfection products your customers have been using, and what might be needed moving forward. There have been so many improvements to the products in the market, a simple review will provide your accounts with the guidance needed.
First, look at the product label. This can be done with a physical inspection, or by reviewing the manufacturers’ product sell sheet, or website. Surface disinfectants are registered with the EPA, and EPA registration numbers are found on the product label.
Does the product used have the right kill claims for today’s complex environment? Certain pathogens are harder to kill than others. Sometimes it’s not about how many pathogens are listed on a label. The question is, are they the right ones for your account? If the facility has isolation areas, or high-risk patients (example: patients with C. difficile) the recommendation is a product with sporicidal efficacy. Spores like C. difficile are hard to kill, so bleach or certain hydrogen peroxides are recommended.
For general procedure areas, or clinical areas with sensitive equipment, a non-bleach would be recommended due to the corrosive nature of bleach. The most commonly used formulations used here are quaternary ammonium/alcohol disinfectants.
There are specific microorganisms to check for that are important because they are representative of a broader range of pathogens (TB is an example).
Measuring effectiveness
An area of product improvement over the past few years has been kill times. Productivity has improved greatly as kill times have come down from 10 minutes to 1 minute on the newest products in the market. A kill time is defined as how quickly the product kills the listed pathogens. If there are several different times listed for different pathogens, you must take the longest time listed as the kill time for that disinfectant overall.
Wet times are also an important characteristic for review. The surface being disinfected needs to remain wet for the longest kill time on its label to be effective. Disinfectants are formulated so they do not evaporate too quickly. If they do, they will not be effective and the surface disinfectant will need to be re-applied.
There are other attributes of disinfectants that are important but a little more subjective. Is the odor pleasing? Does it leave a film on the surface, or is it compatible? Is it ready to use or does the staff need to mix and prepare?
It has been an interesting time in the surface disinfection category. There have been significant leaps forward in product development. There are more options, new formulations, better performance of several known brands in the market. Change creates opportunities for you as a salesperson. Take this opportunity to provide guidance to your accounts and grow your infection prevention business.