Glo Germ Gel vs. ATP Testing: Which One Really Measures Surface Cleanliness?

Cleaning protocols are essential to reducing the risk of HAIs. Verifying the outcome of those protocols is crucial to measuring effectiveness and ensuring safety for patients and staff. While Glo Germ Gel, a fluorescent gel, is commonly used to assess surface cleanliness, it lacks precise, quantitative data. This makes it more suitable as a staff training tool rather than an objective measurement tool. 

So, what is the best way to objectively measure surface cleanliness? 

The country's best healthcare providers use bioluminescence technology in the form of ATP testing. This process involves taking a surface sample with an ATP swab and mixing it with a luciferase enzyme. If ATP is present, indicating organic matter, the enzyme triggers a bioluminescence reaction, which is then measured by a luminometer. The luminometer quantifies and reports the light produced as relative light units (RLUs), providing precise, measurable results.

This post explores the limitations of Glo Germ Gel testing and how switching to ATP testing can enhance your cleaning outcomes.
 

The Limitations of Glo Germ Gel Testing 

Verifying cleaning protocols using Glo Germ Gel has three significant limitations: 

• False Sense of Security: Glo Germ Gel testing cannot indicate how clean a surface truly is. If no residue is visible under UV light, users might mistakenly assume the surface is clean, even though contaminants could still be present. 
• Lack of Quantitative Data: Glo Germ Gel testing does not provide quantitative measurements of contaminants, making it difficult to objectively verify cleanliness against hygiene standards. 
• Labor Intensive Process: Effective Glo Germ Gel testing requires extensive training for personnel in applying the gel, cleaning thoroughly, and inspecting with UV light. This process increases labor costs due to the need for continual training. 
   

How ATP Testing Enhances Your Cleaning Processes 

To achieve better cleaning outcomes, you should implement ATP testing in your cleaning processes. Here are some key benefits of ATP verification: 

• Verify and Quantify Cleaning: Provides quantifiable results that can objectively measure surface cleanliness. 
• Deliver Rapid Results: Delivers immediate cleanliness assessments, enabling swift corrective actions. 
• Prevent HAIs: Identifies areas that need more thorough cleaning, thereby reducing the risk of HAIs.
• Ensure Ease of Use: Simplifies procedures to make the technology accessible to a wide range of users without the need for extensive technical training. 
• Achieve Cost Savings: Saves operational time to lower labor costs and increase productivity.
• Maintain Regulatory Compliance: Assists in meeting health and safety standards mandated by various regulatory bodies. 

 

For hospitals and health facilities that rely mainly on Glo Germ Gel testing, transitioning to ATP testing is simple and guarantees a more accurate and reliable measure of surface cleanliness. Curious about how ATP verification works? Check out the article, Understanding ATP Verification: The Key to Enhanced Hygiene and Safety.  

Why Industry Experts Trust Hygiena’s ATP Testing Solution 

The state of Maryland's Clean Collaborative program aimed to reduce HAIs and improve surface cleaning across 17 acute care hospitals, three long-term care facilities, and four ambulatory surgical centers. The program used Hygiena’s ATP Cleaning Monitoring System to measure cleaning effectiveness in relative light units (RLUs). Results published in the American Journal of Infection Control showed that 88% of the facilities achieved a 10% reduction in RLUs from the baseline to the final month, and 75% exceeded this goal by reducing RLUs by more than 50% to 100%.

Read the study, Reducing Environmental Surface Contamination in Healthcare Settings: A Statewide Collaborative, to learn how Hygiena’s ATP testing provided measurable, quantitative outcomes to help improve the cleaning effectiveness of these facilities.

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The Orders of St. John Care Trust (OSJCT), a reputable care provider in the United Kingdom, successfully integrated Hygiena's ATP testing into their cleaning protocols. This led to significant improvements in their cleanliness and ensured a safe environment for both patients and employees. According to OSJCT, “EnSURE® Touch, combined with SureTrend®, gives us confidence and peace of mind that our cleaning practices are working effectively.”

Read the case study, How The Orders of St. John Care Trust Ensures Residents, Staff, and Visitors Are Safe, to learn how ATP testing and the cloud-based data analytics platform help them quickly identify and respond to any areas needing cleaning attention. 

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A study conducted at five Sydney ultrasound facilities tested 253 surfaces using Hygiena’s ATP Cleaning Monitoring System. The results showed that physical appearance often failed to reflect actual cleanliness, underscoring the need for using ATP testing to accurately assess surface cleanliness. 

Read the case study, Using ATP Monitoring to Maintain Hospital Ultrasound Equipment, to learn how ATP testing guides staff to test a cleaning verification step with actionable data.  

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Comprehensive Hygiene Tests Customized to Your Needs 

1. UltraSnap® 

These high-sensitivity swabs are scientifically designed to effectively collect samples from critical environmental surfaces, providing ATP results that sync through the EnSURE Touch instrument to the SureTrend software platform for immediate cleanliness verification and data analysis.   

Learn more about UltraSnap

2. Hygiena® EndoSwab 

This sample collection device is used in conjunction with the UltraSnap Surface ATP Test. It features a foam tip attached to a long wand, which is used to collect test samples from the main endoscope channel. After sampling, the foam tip is removed from the wand and aseptically transferred to the ATP test device, processed and analyzed on a Hygiena luminometer. The resulting RLUs indicate whether the internal endoscope was cleaned effectively.  

Learn more about EndoSwab

 

3. SuperSnap® 

The SuperSnap High Sensitivity ATP Surface Test can detect extremely low levels of ATP, making it perfect for supporting stringent SOPs. 

Learn more about SuperSnap

 

4. EnSURE® Touch Luminometer 

Our intuitive, handheld instrument provides rapid pass/fail ATP sanitation testing results in 10 seconds for real-time surface cleanliness analysis. 

Learn more about EnSURE Touch

5. CalCheck 

CalCheck is a convenient and reusable LED device used to quickly and reliably verify the calibration of a Hygiena luminometer. Simply insert CalCheck into a Hygiena luminometer and run a test in seconds. 

Learn more about CalCheck

 

Centralize Cleaning Data Across Multiple Locations  

Hospitals and healthcare facilities need detailed cleaning data to maintain consistent hygiene standards across all locations. SureTrend lets you map your facility with an overview of past and present data, including highlighted hotspots.  

SureTrend® 

Our cloud-based data analytics platform enables seamless data aggregation, analysis, mapping, trending, and centralized monitoring of enterprise-wide ATP testing results for optimal risk management and rapid decision-making. Many users select SureTrend for its robust data analysis capabilities, which enhance the overall effectiveness of their cleaning programs. 

Learn more about SureTrend

Switch to Hygiena  

Adopting ATP testing into your cleaning protocols ensures a comprehensive approach to maintaining the highest standards of cleanliness. Learn how you can elevate your facility’s hygiene practices with Hygiena’s solutions. Switch to Hygiena’s cleaning verification solution and reduce HAIs risk now.