John Weir – Healthcare Cleaning Professional

We had our “long awaited” Joint Commission Survey the beginning of this week. It seemed like forever, waiting for them to arrive… not really. While it might have seemed like a long time, it really was just another week for a hospital that prides itself on being the best possible caregiver to meet the physical, and spiritual needs of the community.

Environmental Services is the department that cleans, disinfects, and fights infection in every hospital. ES for short, is a department that touches every aspect of a healthcare facility, every patient, every staff member and every visitor. My team is no different, but we try to be different in one aspect; we don’t “get ready” for survey’s like The Joint Commission, or CMS, we practice survey readiness everyday.

A quick tip regarding recognition.

Successful leadership in healthcare environmental services requires constant vigilance, ongoing education, willingness to identify opportunities for improvement in ourselves first, and staff second. In that spirit I share 11 principles and 14 traits for leading in this ever changing environment.

(continue reading…)

Resonant Leaders engage us. They evoke positive emotions and inspire us through their positive thoughts and clear vision. Leaders develop their resonance through compassion, hope, mindfulness and they maintain their resonance. Is it any wonder this leads to increased revenue in an organization?

Leaders of all kinds possess these abilities. However, their level of emotional intelligence determines their ability to manage the feeling and emotions that motivate groups to meet its goals. Resonance, in terms of brain function, means that people’s emotional centers are in synch in a positive way. We have to do everything we can to promote resonant leadership skills.

Sure it seems like a never ending cycle of cutbacks, reductions and expectations to do more with less. Some hospitals reach the breaking point sooner because they have been more efficient to begin with. Eventually even the over-staffed facilities will feel the challenge to keep up.

Patient satisfaction scores are one measure of performance. While it is important to listen to the customer we must first measure our staff performance ourselves. When rounding do you take the time to observe how your staff are cleaning, and offer tips, suggestions and training on the spot?

(continue reading…)

Housekeeping schedules should be planned, written and closely followed. Cleaning schedules should be developed according to the needs of each area. Without written routines and schedules your productivity and customer satisfaction are going to go up and down more often then a roller coaster.

A properly stocked cleaning cart will help prevent wasted trips to supply closets and should be equipped with any of the following items which are necessary for your work:

(continue reading…)

The major difference between cleaning a medical facility and any other building is the focus on the un-seen enemy, bacteria. Environmental Service’s job is to not only provide good visible results, but to reduce the number of surface bacteria to a safe level in order to control cross infection. This is an extremely important responsibility because it keeps harmful bacteria from infecting the person next door or across the hall. Persons whose bodies are recuperating from surgery, injury or a primary infection are in a weakened condition and therefore, cannot put p their normal fight against harmful bacteria. A secondary infection in these cases can cause very serious illness.

(continue reading…)

Here I continue to list cleaning standards. We use these as a guide to understanding our responsibilities in general cleaning. This is not meant to be a complete list, rather a broad overview. Enjoy your reading:

(continue reading…)

Environmental Services (ES) is important to any business because the visible cleaning results create the first impression of a visitor or customer. You’ve probably heard that “the first impression is a lasting one” and there is a great deal of truth in that. Our job is to make that first impression a good one.

In addition to visible cleaning results, impressions are formed by the appearance of you, personally. Some important points to creating a good impression are:

(continue reading…)