How can emerging disinfection technologies gain a foothold in the current culture of hospitals?

Abstract

In the United States, more than 90% of hospitals still use only the traditional "spray and wipe" disinfection methods initiated over a century ago to protect patients from their environment; international adoption of new methods is even lower. Innovative approaches like whole room disinfection find an inhospitable reception in spite of clearly superior reductions in health care-acquired infections. Much of the resistance is due to a lack of true accountability for patient safety in hospital organizations and to perverse incentive structures in historical reimbursement policies. But all of that may change in the coming years as hospitals and doctors become more responsible for the health outcomes of their patients.