Copper surfaces continuously foster patient safety by controlling microbial burden within clinical environments

National health-service providers, private health insurers, and healthcare practitioners have each called for increased practices that foster patient safety. Healthcare associated infections (HAI) represent one of the most significant risks to patient safety, occurring at an alarmingly high rate of 1 per 25 hospitalizations in the US. Components fabricated from solid copper alloys have an ability to continuously control the concentration of microbes in situ at levels recommended subsequent to terminal cleaning (<250 cfu/100cm²). In one clinical trial, limited placement of copper surfaces was shown to mitigate the rate of HAI acquisition through a reduction to environmental burden. The HAI rate was significantly lower in rooms with copper surfaces (11.8 to 4.8 per 1,000 patient days (p= 0.013)). Here we report on the in situ evaluation of copper surfaces within an ambulatory-surgical care center. Thirteen different objects were evaluated over 500 days. Objects fabricated using copper alloys were found to harbor significantly lower concentrations of bacteria than control facsimiles (p<0.0001). The median burden associated with the copper objects was below the limit of detection. These results represent the first evaluation of copper alloy surfaces in a setting of ambulatory-surgical care and support previous observations that copper alloys continuously control the concentration of bacteria within built clinical environments. Collectively these data serve to advance the conclusion that an application of copper touch surfaces throughout healthcare can enhance infection control efforts augmenting patient safety.