PurThread | disinfectants

July 17, 2012 By PurThread

As effective as hard surface disinfection protocols have become, there’s still a place for the extra jars of wipes because disinfecting happens at a single point in time and frequent recontamination is common. When one of our team went in for surgery a few years ago, his wife brought along a couple of jars of disinfecting wipes to his room, so that there would be no reason for personnel not to wipe down every area after every interaction. Not long before, that might have seemed excessive. But with what we now know about healthcare acquired infections (HAIs), it’s both common practice and common sense.

Since contact is with intact skin, environmental hard surfaces are considered to be noncritical items with little risk of directly causing infections in patients or staff. However, hard surfaces are touch points where bacteria can be spread and cross contamination can occur. Further, detergents or cleaning utensils can become contaminated and actually foster the spread of infections they are being used to prevent. For those reasons and to simplify environmental services training and practices, it generally makes sense for hospitals and healthcare facilities to disinfect environmental surfaces, rather than merely wash them with detergents. Individual facilities use protocols that match their needs and situations.

Ultimately, hard surface cleaning protocols boil down to a balance among contaminant elimination, product efficacy and resources (cost and available labor). The CDC provides guidelines for disinfection of equipment or environmental surface that can be summarized by the fact that more numerous or more resistant microorganisms require more potent disinfectants or more contact time (length of exposure of the item to germicide).

Disinfectants are available in spray, disposable wipe, or liquid detergent form, and alcohol, chlorine, quaternary ammonium, and phenolics each have their advantages in specific applications for hard surfaces. Surfaces that are likely to be touched more frequently may need more frequent disinfection, usually via disposable wipes. Other areas of the room may do well with spray or mop applications and reusable wipe cloths or mop heads.

As effective as hard surface disinfection protocols have become, though, there’s still a place for the extra jars of wipes brought in by a vigilant spouse because disinfecting happens at a single point in time and frequent recontamination is common. (See this article in the American Journal of Infection Control.)

Cleanliness is Next to … Infection Control

June 19, 2012 By PurThread

Environmental Services’ role in battling hospital infections

In addition to helping create a great first impression and contributing to sustainability ratings, patient satisfaction and staff morale, Environmental Services (ES) teams are increasingly being recognized for their role in improving infection rates.

Keeping hospital rooms and overall environment clean and ridding them of microscopic germs is essential to controlling infections. Here are some of the best practices we’ve gleaned from several success stories.

Communication and collaboration.

ES should be part of the multidisciplinary team that defines infection program goals and standards and reviews progress toward those goals. ES early and constant participation assures their full buy-in.

Improved cleaning procedures.

ES teams can define more aggressive cleaning procedures, and develop ES staff training to implement them, as well as standards for supervisorial monitoring. For example, teams might increase concentration on high touch areas and use an “all-or-nothing” checklist approach whereby all components of checklist must be completed for room to be considered cleaned. Since staff turnover is often an issue in ES, infection control training may need to be repeated.

Enabling and monitoring compliance.

ES can specify and maintain waterless hand hygiene stations and supplies of personal protective equipment (gloves and masks) at key locations. Adding touchless paper towel dispensers can reduce waste and more importantly improve hygiene and reduce the risk of cross-contamination. ES staff can and should receive training on hand hygiene procedures and help monitor all staff compliance (“see something, say something”).

Improvement is a process, not a project.

Infection control takes constant vigilance and monitoring. That certainly applies to the ES team and continued supervisorial focus. Feedback on the importance and effectiveness of their work in reducing or controlling infection rates can help maintain morale. When the ES teams are part of programs that improve infection rates, their success can be a great motivator and source of pride.

Wiped Out: Disinfecting Hard Surfaces