Health Care Center Disinfecting Overlooked Item

Door handles, nurse call buttons, and bed trays tables are among high-touch surfaces environmental services (EVS) staff clean frequently in health care facilities. But there is one high-touch item that rarely is cleaned—pens.

A new device, developed at Orlando Health, sanitizes shared pens with one swipe. Called the CleanBlock, it holds pens between uses. When people need a pen, they simply pull it out of the block, use it, then put it back in the block. This eliminates cross-contamination between pen users.

A clinical coordinator at Orlando Health UF Health Cancer Center invented the device after he noticed patients all using the same pen to sign in for their appointments. Orlando Health plans to have a CleanBlock in every medical office on its campus by the end of the year.