Keeping the facility safe for
visiting patients and health care workers should be a priority for any
hospital, but this isn’t always the case. According to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (CDC), almost 100,000 people die every year from diseases
acquired inside hospitals. This scary statistic highlights some of the failures
of traditional cleaning systems. Here are the hospital cleaning best practices
suggested by North American public health officials and CHOR Services.
1. Wear Gloves Properly
The improper use of gloves
spreads dangerous bacteria. The Ontario Agency for Health Protection and
Promotion recommends several techniques to control contaminants, starting with
assigning different gloves for household tasks, patient rooms, and jobs
involving heavily soiled items. Gloves must always be changed between patients,
should never be worn in hallways, and should be changed when moving from a
residential area to a shared restroom space. In addition, cleaning crews must
their wash hands after removing gloves.
2. Focus on High-Touch Areas
As in public restrooms and school
facilities, every hospital administrator should direct staff to focus on the
most-touched surfaces. These include bed rails, doorknobs, phones, and remote
controls in patients’ rooms. Since more people have touched these areas, there
is a greater likelihood of dangerous bacteria.
3. Work from Clean to Dirty Areas
One of the biggest mistakes in
modern commercial cleaning is starting from the dirtiest places, usually the
restroom, and moving to cleaner parts of the facility. There are so many
chances to spread disease-causing soils from a bathroom or kitchen when mops
and rags are part of the cleaning system. Hospital cleaning should progress
from the rooms of the healthiest patients to the restrooms in the wards with
the sickest patients.
4. Limit Air Pollution
Since there are so many biological hazards in health care facilities, they must be contained in the trash bags and receptacles where they have been deposited. To keep bacteria out of the airstream, Ontario Agency for Health Protection and Promotion recommends that workers roll soiled bedclothes away from their bodies before placing them—not throwing them—in linen bins. Trash bags should be tied without releasing the excess air in the bag.
5. Use Dehumidifier To Maintain Air Quality
A dehumidifier is an electrical appliance which reduces and maintains the level of humidity in the air, usually for health or comfort reasons, or to eliminate musty odor and to prevent the growth of mildew by extracting water from the air. It can be used for household, commercial, or industrial applications. Large dehumidifiers are used in commercial buildings such as hospitals. You can find more information about different types of dehumidifiers at thedehumidifierexperts.com.
6. Avoid Cross-Contamination
Probably the biggest challenge
for health care cleaning crews is removing and disposing of contaminants right
where they are in the hospital. Mops and rags are almost guaranteed to bring
bacteria to other parts of the facility. Using a revolutionary technique of
spraying, vacuuming, and disposing of contaminants, your cleaning crew can be
certain that bacteria doesn’t leave the room.
7. Dispose of Contaminated Materials Safely
Knowing how and where to dispose
of soiled surfaces and solutions should be considered as important as the
cleaning system. Whether you have soiled linens, dirty cleaning fluids, or
contaminated biological materials from clinics, make sure there is no chance
for contamination during removal. No-touch cleaning makes disposal of dirty
cleaning fluids easier than ever.
8. Minimize Chemical Content
Abrasive chemicals can irritate
patients’ nasal passages and harm the skin of cleaning workers and hospital
staff. CHOR Services cleaning system offers a solution with up to 90 percent less
chemical content than other solutions. That means that the most effective
cleaning system is also safer.
These hospital cleaning best practices can help
stop the spread of diseases in health care facilities. To learn more about
Cleaning Visit CHOR Services