The Center for Disease Control And Prevention just released a 2019 AR threats report titled Antibiotic Resistance Threats in the United States, with some startling findings for the calendar year. The report found that 2.8 million antibiotic-resistant infections occur in the U.S. every year, resulting in 35,000 deaths. That’s nearly 1% of the U.S. population succumbing to an antibiotic-resistant infection every year, and a death every 15 minutes. The report goes on further to suggest, “Stop referring to a coming post-antibiotic era — it’s already here.” Keeping hospitals sanitary has never been so important, as reducing infections increasingly becomes the surest way of preventing antibiotic-resistant infection fatalities.
While the findings of the 2019 AR threats report are worrisome, there are ways you can help prevent antibiotic-resistant infections from occurring in the first place. High traffic locations in hospitals are prone to bacterial buildup, and these areas should be cleaned as regularly as possible. Similarly, medical computers constitute one of the most widely used tools in the medical setting, and can quickly become hotbeds for bacterial growth. Choosing the right medical computers for your hospital can drastically reduce the spread of bacteria via medical staff.
Medical Computers With Antimicrobial Enclosure
From medical assistants, nurses, and doctors, medical computers can change hands between multiple hospital staff members throughout the day. Each time a member of the medical staff interacts with a new patient, they are potentially spreading antibiotic-resistant bacteria to both the patient and other employees via medical computers. Ensuring that your staff’s medical computers have an antimicrobial enclosure is one way to keep this potential spread to a minimum. Antimicrobial enclosures feature an antimicrobial agent that clings to the surface of the medical computer, mitigating the growth of bacteria and helping reduce the chance of infection.
Fanless Medical Computers
Not all medical computers are created equal, but all medical computers should be fanless medical computers. Fanless medical computers, like the Medix T24B have passive cooling technology that allows them to regulate their temperature without the use of a computer fan. Unlike traditional fan-cooled computers, fanless medical computers do not circulate air inside them. This means that fanless medical computers do not build up dust, pathogens, and other contaminants inside their enclosure. If not cleaned out, the insides of traditional computers can become a breeding ground of bacteria, as more dust and dead skin cells find their way in and stick. Fanless medical computers offer a cleaner, safer way to provide medical computing power in the hospital setting.
Water Resistant Medical Computers
One critical feature of medical computers is the ability to repel liquids. This allows for medical computers to be cleaned regularly with cleaning agents, without damaging the sensitive components within. Medical computers like the Medix KW Line from Tangent feature an IP54 certified water resistant front panel, allowing for the touch screen to be cleaned without damaging the antimicrobial enclosure. The combination of an antimicrobial enclosure and water resistance allows for medical computers to be the last thing you have to worry about causing infections in the hospital.
With a person dying every 15 minutes from an antibiotic resistant infection, it is time hospitals took the prevention of such diseases as seriously as possible. Medical computers from Tangent can help reduce the spread of bacteria in one of the most trafficked areas of hospitals.