Thursday, September 12, 2002

Midbrook Medical Supplies ATP Cleanliness Testing Equipment

Midbrook Medical Supplies ATP Cleanliness Testing Equipment

Midbrook Medical, the Jackson, MI, based manufacturer of medical decontamination systems and custom fabricated medical equipment has begun offering affordable ATP testing devices to medical facilities. These handheld systems can quickly and easily measure the cleanliness of a surface, providing nearly instantaneous feedback on the effectiveness of cleaning practices.

Jackson, MI (Vocus) August 31, 2010

Midbrook Medical, the Jackson, MI, based manufacturer of medical decontamination systems and custom fabricated medical equipment has begun offering affordable ATP testing devices to medical facilities. These handheld systems can quickly and easily measure the cleanliness of a surface, providing nearly instantaneous feedback on the effectiveness of cleaning practices.

Due to nearly 40 years of experience in the cleaning industry, Midbrook is familiar with a number of different methods of cleanliness testing. Some methods, while accurate, are difficult and time consuming to perform. They are also expensive and require significant amounts of training to use correctly. ATP testing, however, is affordable and requires almost no instruction.

ATP testing works on a simple premise. Adenosine triphosphate (ATP) is a chemical substance that powers reactions within cells. In layman’s terms, ATP acts as the energy currency or fuel of cells. This substance is present in all life forms except viruses and prions, but because viruses require living cells to survive, their presence can be indirectly determined with ATP testing. In a medical setting, ATP testing is an easy way to determine whether or not there are living bacteria on a surface, in addition to human residues. ATP testing will also determine the presence of other cellular residues that may harbor or serve and as a food source for living bacteria. The ability of ATP testing to determine the presence of bacteria makes it a useful tool for identifying and eliminating possible sources of healthcare acquired infections, which are a growing concern in the medical community.

To determine ATP levels, the user simply swabs the surface and places the swab into the handheld testing unit. After 15 seconds, the unit will give a result in terms of relative light units (RLU) which indicate the amount of ATP on the surface. The lower the RLU count, the less ATP is on the surface. By association, less ATP means less living bacteria. Different types of surfaces generally have different RLU levels that are deemed to be acceptable. For example, hospital room surfaces should be below 50 RLUs, while hospital common areas can have up to 75 RLUs.

Because of the fast and accurate results provided by ATP testing, it is ideal for use in medical settings. Employees can quickly and easily perform checks on different areas of the facility and receive immediate feedback. This allows them to perform immediate corrective action and identify problem areas for future cleaning, protecting both employees and patients from dangerous germs and bacteria. ATP testing also provides an easy method of gauging employee performance and illustrating the effectiveness of the cleaning process.

Midbrook Medical can provide not only the handheld unit and test swabs, but also the small amount of training and knowledge required to effectively and correctly perform ATP testing. In addition, Midbrook can help analyze the results and provide recommendations to improve the cleaning process.

Midbrook is the minority owned, world leading provider of process specific, high volume aqueous part cleaning systems, custom medical fabrications and decontamination systems, sealed solvent cleaning systems, and water bottling equipment.

For more information about Midbrook Medical, visit http://www. midbrookmedical. com/ For more information about ATP cleanliness testing, visit http://www. midbrook. com/tech-center/bacterial-and-fungi-testing/atp-testing/ or call 1-517-787-3481.

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