An Assessment of a Hybrid Lighting System That Employs Ultraviolet-A
April 17, 2020
By: JA Brons MSca , A Bierman MSca, R White MDb, K Benner BSc, L Deng MScc and MS Rea PhDa aLighting Research Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY, USA Memorial Hospital Beacon Health, South Bend, IN, USA GE Current, a Daintree company, Cleveland, OH, USA
Reducing healthcare-associated infections is critically important. A new hybrid lighting system technology, designed to provide both visible white light and disinfecting UV-A (max¼366nm) radiation, was retrofitted into a modern hospital newborn intensive care unit. The UV-A dosing was set to levels calculated to be safe for human occupation (maximum of 10W m2 for 8 hours at eye level). Eighthour exposures at 3W m2 on newborn intensive care unit counter surfaces were effective for suppressing selected pathogens identified by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention as problematic for healthcare facilities.
Professional staff accepted the hybrid lighting system, although its implementation in this newborn intensive care unit was not completely satisfactory. An analysis of photodegrading effects suggested that UV-A resistant equipment and furnishing may need to be installed with this technology. The present findings should form the foundation for the next generation of this lighting technology.
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