Surface contamination can adversely affect cleanliness, sanitation and hygiene in hospitals. Controlling bacteria and other microbial contaminants is a top priority for healthcare managers who know that keeping surfaces clean and eliminating problematic bacteria are challenging tasks. While common sanitizers and cleaners provide some benefit, their effectiveness is limited. Bacteria and other microbes can begin to colonize the surface as soon as the cleaning agent dries or someone touches the surface. There is also potential for microbes to become resistant to the cleaning agent. Today, Stinger Medical is proud to be the first to bring you RhinoGuard™, an advanced, silver-based antimicrobial technology designed to guard the surfaces of your mobile solutions against contamination. Our engineered antimicrobial surfaces contain antimicrobials that continuously inhibit the growth of microbes.

Stinger Medical understands that the cleanliness of point-of-care equipment is vitally important. That is why it has introduced RhinoGuard™ as a feature on its Fusion™, Levitator™ and Slimline™ mobile workstations. RhinoGuard™ helps fight the growth of a broad spectrum of microbes on surfaces between cleanings. RhinoGuard differs from traditional cleaning agents and coatings because the technology is built into the paint and plastic on Stinger Medical mobile workstations, therefore it will not wash off or diminish in effectiveness over time.

The cornerstone of RhinoGuard™ is silver, a naturally occurring and effective antimicrobial agent in its ionic form. The delivery system is a multi-faceted zeolite crystal carrier that provides a three dimensional release mechanism delivering controlled, effective and efficient release of silver ions independent of particle orientation in the substrate. Ambient moisture, which comes from the air or from finger touches, creates conditions that support bacterial growth. In such conditions, the sodium ions exchange with silver ions at reversible bonding sites on the zeolite. The exchanged silver ions are now available to control microbial growth.

Unlike organic antimicrobials, the ionic silver in RhinoGuard™ attacks microbes in three ways: it disrupts transport functions in the cell wall, inhibits cell division and interrupts cell metabolism. This trimodal action is what makes silver such an effective and broad spectrum antimicrobial and what makes RhinoGuard™ so effective.