3rd Annual Healthcare Surfaces Summit is Underway

Healthcare Surfaces Summit is underway (August 21 & 22 at the Hilton Minneapolis/St. Paul Airport Hotel). We’re looking forward to active collaborations with our attendees! It will undoubtedly be two days of meaning, action, importance, and fun. As a non-profit organization, we are grateful for support from our attendees and sponsors. They allow us to have funds available to conduct research, standards setting, education, and more.

Together, we work side by side with our sponsors to create measures, metrics, standards, research, outreach, and education. Our collaborative work is meant to reduce preventable infections by interrupting the transmission of surface-related pathogens in healthcare. Our sponsors feel that their involvement in the HSS provides them with unparalleled access to key opinion leaders and experts from many different disciplines from around the world. 

They have told us some of the following advantages they see in their partnership with the HSS:

Sappi is hoping their engagement allows them to gain insights into the needs of healthcare facilities as they explore innovative new technologies that prevent the attachment of bacteria on a variety of materials and surfaces. They hope to assist in developing standards, resources, and education to overcome key challenges in surface cleaning and disinfection. “Sappi supports the Summit and their mission to raise awareness and provide education around the role of surfaces in infection prevention and control and to help further the development and adoption of sustainable solutions.” – Michael Greene, Senior Marketing Manager, Sappi North America

Systems approaches that expand beyond simple hand hygiene compliance are required to combat HAIs. Microban feels that participation in the Summit will allow them to understand deficiencies with existing healthcare facilities’ protocols and products. This base understanding can then be utilized to build novel products in conjunction with key education materials, guiding healthcare to safer surfaces. “Partnering with the Healthcare Surfaces Summit allows us to better design our innovative products and be a part of the educational development.” – Dr. Gina Sloan, Director, Innovations

In the fight against infections, material compatibility is critically important. Harsh disinfectants may cause equipment damage, unnecessary costs, and contribute to poor clinical outcomes. PDI Healthcare supports the Healthcare Surfaces Summit because healthcare facilities can benefit from standards that the HSS to help them “safely and properly disinfect a variety of surface types with disinfecting products widely accepted in healthcare and make a real difference on the safety and health of patients and personnel.” – Arpan P. Desai, Marketing Manager, Compatibility

The healthcare environment uses plastics for equipment, surfaces, and devices that are regularly cleaned with disinfectants. These aggressive cleaning protocols can damage many plastics used in the healthcare environment – leading to equipment malfunction, frequent repairs, and replacements that put patients at risk. Eastman agrees that hospitals need plastics with the inherent ability to withstand stickiness, discoloration, crazing, cracking and hazing when exposed to these disinfectants that will make environments safer. “Eastman is committed to the Summit and in helping healthcare customers choose the right plastic to meet their product requirements while maintaining a commitment to safety and sustainability.” – Ellen Turner, Eastman Global Market Development Manager, Medical Devices

About HSI

The Healthcare Surfaces Summit (HSS) is a cutting-edge collaboration of thought leaders to evaluate and understand all aspects of the complex role environmental and other surfaces play in transmitting pathogens that cause infection and illness in healthcare settings. Its mission is to reduce preventable infections by mobilizing industry, academia, science, regulatory, and service organizations to reduce the transmission of surface related pathogens. The Healthcare Services Summit has established cross-disciplinary Initiative Workgroups to develop solutions, best practices, and research hypotheses for the development of scientific evidence-based best practice recommendations that support policy and regulatory change. HSS is a nonprofit corporation supported by sponsors, donors and partners.