More than a million patients and visitors contract infections and diseases in medical facilities. This makes it important to hire the right cleaning professionals for your healthcare facility. By doing so, you can ensure that you meet all health code standards as well as keep your employees and patients healthy and safe. There are several benefits to hiring professional janitorial providers for cleaning medical facilities. They meet environmental cleaning standards and provide patient and employee benefits.
Meet Environmental Cleaning
Standards
Healthcare settings, including doctor’s offices, dental offices, urgent care clinics, medical centers, and hospitals in the United States are mandated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to follow specific healthcare cleaning standards. Healthcare businesses which fail to comply with these standards may be subject to closure and fines.
Facilities that don’t prioritize mandated cleaning and compliance may be held legally responsible in case the unclean setting causes a serious health issue. It is recommended that you work with cleaning services that maintain the highest standards for medical offices and hospitals.
The cleaning environmental services you choose should be well versed in OSHA guidelines and standards. They should also know the standards recommended by the following organizations and associations:
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN)
Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)
Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA)
You should make sure that all procedures are based on specified regulatory requirements for providing patient-centered cleaning before hiring commercial cleaning services.
Maintain Patient-Centered and Professional Appearance
Unsanitary and messy healthcare facilities are unlikely to be profitable or sustainable in the long run. Patients don’t want to return to a medical office where the facility and staff don’t appear professional. Healthcare facilities need to disinfect the medical side of their offices. However, it is equally important for them to thoroughly clean the patient and public areas. This will reduce the risk of patient attrition.
Dirty seat cushions in the reception area, visible grime or dirt on the floors, filled waste cans, and stained furnishings suggest the facility is not serious about maintaining a healthy and safe environment. Routine cleaning is necessary for maintaining a professional medical setting. Professional environmental cleaning services can be helpful in satisfying patient expectations whether you have a small dental practice or a busy outpatient facility.
Keep Employees and Staff Satisfied and Safe
Healthcare facilities require skilled employees, whether nurses or doctors with extensive qualifications and training to run. You may have trouble keeping licensed physicians and nurses if your healthcare business doesn’t meet the required environmental cleaning regulations. This is because of the high cost of medical malpractice suits.
Strict cleaning standards can help in retaining staff, improving the healthcare work environment, and increasing worker satisfaction and productivity. It is important to realize that healthcare workers are in contact with different germs throughout their day. Professional healthcare cleaning services can help protect both patients and staff from deadly and serious infections.
It is recommended to choose a cleaning provider that meets the expectations and standards set by organizations for healthcare environments. You should find a healthcare cleaning service that routinely adopts any updates made to the applicable regulations and standards. The cleaning technicians should be trained specifically for healthcare settings. They should use the proper cleaning tools for keeping both employees and patients safe.
Stops the Spread of Germs and Infections
The importance of hygiene and disinfection was amplified by Covid-19. This is particularly for places with high traffic, like institutions and hospitals. It is important to maintain a clean and properly disinfected healthcare facility for keeping patients and everyone else safe. Infections, viruses, and diseases can quickly spread in hospitals if proper precautions are not taken.
Healthcare-associated infections (HCAIs) encompass a wide range of infections that can be present in hospital settings. A few of the more common ones include staphylococcus, Escherichia coli, and Clostridium difficile. The only way of keeping your facility free from these dangerous bacteria is to keep it clean and disinfected. While employees should be trained in using all necessary precautions like wearing masks, using sanitizers, and frequent handwashing, healthcare facilities must employ the services of a professional and experienced cleaning company.
You should remember that patient rooms are not the only spaces that need to be kept incredibly clean. Reception areas, bathrooms, and offices require the same attention. Professional medical cleaning companies are aware of the high-traffic areas. They know which products to use, which high-traffic areas to pay special attention to, and how to dispose of trash and appropriately disinfect floors.
Increases Employee Productivity
Doctors, nurses, and employees should be present and focused on the patients at all times. They shouldn’t have to clean up after. This will reduce employee productivity since the staff would lose focus, become tired, and feel resentment for performing tasks that should not be their responsibility in the first place.
Doctors and nurses are in a better position to attend to more patients during the day when they are not bothered about cleaning up messes or sweeping the rooms. Additionally, humans are productive when they don’t have to work in an untidy or dirty environment.
94% of employees said they were more productive in a tidy and clean environment as per a study by the Staples Corporation. The same study reported that 77% of employees felt that the work they delivered was of better quality. Medical office cleaning services are trained in handling hazardous cleaning chemicals. The healthcare staff doesn’t have the proper training to use specialized cleaning machines and chemicals.
Use of Proper and Safe Cleaning Products
Healthcare facilities don’t just have dust and grime to be worried about. They need proper cleaning systems in place to take care of certain areas, such as operating rooms. Healthcare settings require industry-grade cleaning and disinfecting chemicals which are not readily available. You may get away with a cursory sweep, vacuum, and mop in the exam room. However, you could be compromising the health of your patients and staff by not having professional cleaning performed.
Cleaning companies are aware of best practices to maintain a healthy environment. They make use of result-oriented cleaning solutions for reducing the risk of transmission and spread of germs and pathogens. You must work with cleaners that train their employees in the proper usage of cleaning chemicals and cleaning programs.
Using the wrong cleaning product can result in serious damage to the floor or surface. In certain severe cases, it may also cause bodily harm. The commercial cleaning company you choose should have a deep commitment to upholding OSHA and CDC standards. They should also stay on top of industry updates. You won’t need to pay for expensive cleaning products by choosing the right healthcare cleaning company.
Difference Between Healthcare Cleaning and Disinfecting
Many people use cleaning and disinfecting interchangeably. Cleaning involves removing soil, dirt, grime, or any other organic material from the facility. A combination of detergents or enzymatic products and water is used in cleaning. This is the first step to completing workplace sterilization and disinfection.
Disinfection is the second step of cleaning. The cleaning team will make use of medical-grade chemicals for removing the majority of pathogenic microorganisms. Disinfection is vital in high-traffic areas, such as restrooms and waiting areas. High-touch surfaces, like tables, cabinets, buttons, door handles, handrails, medical equipment, phones, chairs, sinks, push plates, keyboards, countertops, and microwaves among others should be disinfected multiple times during the day.
It can be challenging for hospitals, doctor’s offices, medical clinics, surgical centers, urgent care centers, dentists, and other facilities to have the experience or information to create an appropriate balance between surface compatibility and efficacy. Disinfection needs to be effective in reducing the risk of infection. However, you need to keep in mind that proper care needs to be taken for protecting equipment and surfaces from damage.
Disinfectants if used improperly can cause surface compatibility issues. The right surgical cleaning technicians would use a combination of advanced technology, such as electrostatic spray technology with hand wiping cloths for killing 99.99% of germs and pathogens. This offers the highest quality hospital cleaning and helps maintain the health of patients and the safety of your staff.
Cleaning a facility in the healthcare industry comes with its own set of unique challenges. Deep cleaning and disinfection provide the best results. They are effective in tackling MRSA, swine flu, E. coli, salmonella, coronavirus, norovirus, H1N1, SARS, and other contagious diseases. Janitorial cleaning services know the right EPA-registered disinfectant solution to use for maintaining the highest quality hospital cleaning.
Contact a Professional Healthcare Cleaning Company
Commercial cleaning for hospitals and other healthcare facilities is a challenging and daunting undertaking. It is almost impossible to adhere to strict industry standards and guidelines without the help of trained professionals. The team at Servi-Tek is known for performing a great job with a quick response time.
Schedule a cleaning appointment today by calling (866) 454-6185 or using our online form.
