Cleaning To Save Lives

For any healthcare administrator to discount quality results – with documented evidence – and revert to justification based on square footage borders on the unconscionable and very possibly unethical.  To ignore your results and measures and revert to staffing levels and budget levels based only on square feet of floor surface will certainly have a…

Diversity and Environmental Services

Our profession is so immensely diverse because of the level of talent and professionalism our members bring to the table. Many years ago, various housekeeping departments were just that–housekeeping–but due to the evolution of health care environmental services managers, we have become multifaceted department managers with responsibilities encompassing a wider array of functions. With the…

Healthcare Reform and Environmental Services

As part of the proposed changes to healthcare, reimbursement for hospital care and post-acute care will be bundled; patient readmission’s will be at a lower rate in some cases; hospital reimbursement and performance will be directly linked; and physician self-referral will be more closely regulated. Out of those four important items, environmental services has a…

More Regulatory Complexities–Regulated Medical Waste

There are thousands of health care facilities in the United States. I imagine there are mock surveys and actual surveys everyday somewhere. And during each one, many regulations and requirements are checked for compliance. An increasing focus is being paid to regulated medical waste or RMW. Most health care facility professionals understand the need to…

Healthcare Cleaning

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…