The goal of any Environmental Services Department within a healthcare facility should be to prevent the spread of infectious agents among patients and healthcare workers by meticulous cleaning and appropriate disinfection of environmental surfaces. To reach this goal, the EVS department will need to have a comprehensive training program, the objective of which should be…
You need to develop and improve your managerial skills on an ongoing basis as your career develops and as you meet new managerial challenges. Whether you manage a department or a project team, it’s important to know how to get the work done right. When you’re asked to achieve something with the help of others,…
Sometimes, despite your best efforts, there are problems with individual performance. As a manager, you have to deal with these promptly. If you don’t discipline, you risk negative impacts on the rest of the team as well as your customers, as poor performance typically impacts customer service, and it hurts the team and everything that…
Good management means understanding how teams operate. It’s worth remembering that teams usually follow a certain pattern of development. It’s important to encourage and support people through this process, so that you can help your team become fully effective as quickly as possible. When forming teams, managers must create a balance so that there’s a…
The process of physical cleaning of environmental surfaces using detergent (soap), water, and friction is the critical step required prior to surface disinfection. The combination of the cleaning and disinfection processes is designed to remove and kill vegetative microorganisms on surfaces. Disinfection will not be effective in the presence of dirt, blood, or other bio…
The key is that sanitation, safety, and quality cannot be assured for items – particularly paper, textile products such as mops and cloths, and chemicals – that are kept in janitor/housekeeping, soiled utility, and other such areas. When it comes to soiled utility rooms, it might be good for the EVS profession to stop using…
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…
I consider myself a very progressive person who stays current with the latest technology and methods for cleaning and disinfecting healthcare facilities. I learn and share best practices. I communicate with my peers all over the country and I have more than a few years experience in healthcare cleaning. That said, I am getting more…
I had a great question last Friday… How would you review a housekeeping operation? Here are some of the steps I said would be important in reviewing their existing housekeeping operations or developing new outsourcing initiatives. Two key phases of review include: Analysis Interviews with administration/housekeeping/staff Facility inspection FTE analysis Existing support contracts Departmental policies…
Here is the two step cleaning training video I participated in as a technical consultant. We filmed this video at the new beautiful Mercy Medical Center in Merced California. The purpose of this video is to help Environmental Services staff save lives. We believe it is not enough to simply clean with a disinfectant anymore….
Here are seven *spectacular* ways to make your Monday rock – and I bet they get you off to such a great start the whole week will rock too! 1. Take time to set your mind. A little time in prayer, meditation or just reflecting on all the amazing blessings you have does *marvelous* things…
Sometimes you are not in a position to give your employees more in terms of tangible rewards. Increases in pay or benefits, for example, may not be possible. But there is no limit to the intangible rewards you can give them. These “psychological paychecks” require little effort and cost the company nothing. They represent an…
Don’t start itching, and then check underneath your bed! You see it seems that bedbugs, also known as Cimex Lectularius are showing up in many places. The bloodsucking bugs were virtually eradicated in the United States in the 1950s. But they are now showing up practically everywhere, nursing homes, jails, apartment buildings, dormitories, even hospitals….