A study into the validation of ATP testing devices for integrated cleanliness monitoring within healthcare settings

Abstract

There is a problem in hospital cleaning. There is currently no scientific monitoring method that provides timely and reliable assurance that harmful bacteria have been removed by the cleaning processes. This PHD investigates the validation of commercially available testing devices intended for the rapid detection of adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which may provide a quantitative surrogate estimate of surface cleanliness based on ATP measurements. The findings indicate that ATP testing devices, despite problems with scaling and imprecision, provide immediacy in readings which enables the incorporation of ATP testing into an improved and integrated cleanliness monitoring process for applications within healthcare settings.

Date of Award	2016
Original language	English