BIOQUELL Enhances Patient Safety  

Germs can spread in hospitals through human contact, on co-workers’ hands and on inanimate surfaces like telephone receivers and blood pressure cuffs. St. John’s Mercy takes action to prevent the spread of germs through our hand hygiene program, stringent cleaning protocols and environmental decontamination technologies like BIOQUELL.

BiIOQUELL is a cutting-edge technology that eradicates difficult-to-kill organisms such as Clostridium difficile, Acinetobacter and other organisms that are resistant to antibiotics. It uses a hydrogen peroxide mist in a closed room that is specially treated by BIOQUELL engineers. The BIOQUELL team prepares the room by opening drawers, turning over telephone receivers and utilizing other techniques to maximize the surface areas exposed to treatment. The room is carefully sealed while the Bioquell treatment takes place. This treatment can be safely used on sensitive equipment and electronics that are incompatible with chlorine-based products such as bleach.

In December 2008, St. John's Mercy became the first hospital west of the Mississippi to utilize BIOQUELL treatment in addition to stringent cleaning protocols. More than 550 patient rooms have been treated with BIOQUELL to date. All rooms in the St. John’s Mercy Burn Unit are treated with BIOQUELL, since these patients are at high risk for infections that can cause serious complications. The effectiveness of this protocol at St. John’s Mercy has been verified by culturing the equipment and the rooms before and after BIOQUELL treatment.

For more information on BIOQUELL, please contact the Infection Control department at 314-251-6332.