The new frontier: How the boom in point-of-care ultrasound is driving innovation in disinfection control.

For busy healthcare departments, ultrasound offers many benefits for patient examination and treatment. Ultrasound is largely non-invasive, does not expose patients or staff to harmful radiation and is more cost-effective than other methods of imaging.

Recent advances in technology have also enabled a new breed of ultrasound machines. Smaller, more portable and with sharper images, these devices have transformed ultrasound from clunky appointment-only service to highly effective rapid diagnostic tool that can be used at point-of-care (POC).

MediSound Laiken Clarke

POC ultrasound can save critical time in the diagnosis and treatment of unstable patients and is now used in many hospital departments as a primary diagnostic tool. The recent advances in ultrasound have not been matched by the technology available for disinfection of the probes between patients.  

The older chemical disinfection systems used in many healthcare settings are complex to operate and can take up to 15 minutes to reprocess ultrasound probes.  This means longer wait times and, particularly relevant to POC, the introduction of an additional chemical load to vulnerable patients.  We recently spoke to Dr Genevieve Carbonatto, Emergency Physician at Royal Prince Alfred Hospital who explained: “In ED, doctors just don’t have 35 minutes, we have one minute.  The hydrogen peroxide system is just not practical in terms of manpower or time.”

POC ultrasound is radically changing clinical practice and patient outcomes, but at what cost?  The COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how quickly hospitals can be overwhelmed trying to manage highly infectious disease.  An increasing body of literature is also linking the popularity of ultrasound to a rise in hospital-acquired infections. We should be concerned.  If we don’t give proper consideration to how our disinfection processes can better support and enhance POC, then we are limiting progress and putting patients and staff at risk.  Like many of the medical professionals that I work with, I knew we needed a better alternative.   

I co-founded MediSound with Danika Southwell, an experienced cardiac sonographer who understands these challenges first-hand. Our vision is to improve POC ultrasound for the benefit of patients, medical staff and our environment.  Our research led us to an emerging technology developed by French manufacturer Germitec, and over the last 12-months, we’ve worked to bring their Hypernova Chronos device to the Australian market. 

Hypernova Chronos uses UVC to high-level disinfect both ultrasound probe and cable, therefore dramatically reducing the potential for cross-contamination and hospital-acquired infections.  By removing harmful chemicals from the process, the Chronos better protects patients and medical staff and delivers a more sustainable and environmentally friendly solution.  Importantly, the system reprocesses probes in 90 seconds, supporting the safe and efficient delivery of POC ultrasound. 

If you would like to find out more about how the Chronos is revolutionising patient care for hospitals and clinics around Australia, please contact me.