Barriers and perceptions of environmental cleaning: An environmental services perspective

Pedersen, Laura; Masroor, Nadia; Cooper, Kaila; Patrick, Amie; Razjouyan, Faezeh; Doll, Michelle; Stevens, Michael P.; Bearman, Gonzalo

doi:10.1016/j.ajic.2018.06.004

Cited by 8 publications

(6 citation statements)

References 6 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…Similar to recent environmental cleaning literature, our findings suggest that EMS staff believe that environmental cleaning is an important aspect of infection prevention 10,24,25 that affects patient safety. 26 However, we found high turnover, staff shortages, workload pressures, and feelings of undervalue.…”

Section: Ems Staff Site Asupporting

confidence: 86%

“Our job is to break that chain of infection”: Challenges environmental management services (EMS) staff face in accomplishing their critical role in infection prevention

Goedken

McKinley

Balkenende

et al. 2022

ASHE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objectives: Contaminated surfaces in healthcare settings contribute to the transmission of nosocomial pathogens. Adequate environmental cleaning is important for preventing the transmission of important pathogens and reducing healthcare-associated infections. However, effective cleaning practices vary considerably. We examined environmental management services (EMS) staff experiences and perceptions surrounding environmental cleaning to describe perceived challenges and ideas to promote an effective environmental services program. Design: Qualitative study. Participants: Frontline EMS staff. Methods: From January to June 2019, we conducted individual semistructured interviews with key stakeholders (ie, EMS staff) at 3 facilities within the Veterans’ Affairs Healthcare System. We used the Systems Engineering Initiative for Patient Safety (SEIPS) framework (ie, people, environment, organization, tasks, tools) to guide this study. Interviews were audio-recorded, transcribed, and analyzed for thematic content. Results: In total, 13 EMS staff and supervisors were interviewed. A predominant theme that emerged were the challenges EMS staff saw as hindering their ability to be effective at their jobs. EMS staff interviewed felt they understand their job requirements and are dedicated to their work; however, they described challenges related to feeling undervalued and staffing issues. Conclusions: EMS staff play a critical role in infection prevention in healthcare settings. However, some do not believe their role is recognized or valued by the larger healthcare team and leadership. EMS staff provided ideas for improving feelings of value and job satisfaction, including higher pay, opportunities for certifications and advancement, as well as collaboration or integration with the larger healthcare team. Healthcare organizations should focus on utilizing these suggestions to improve the EMS work climate.

show abstract

Section: Ems Staff Site Asupporting

confidence: 86%

“Our job is to break that chain of infection”: Challenges environmental management services (EMS) staff face in accomplishing their critical role in infection prevention

Goedken

McKinley

Balkenende

et al. 2022

ASHE

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Para Keddy (2018), melhores níveis de educação podem atuar como fator de proteção à incidência de doenças. Segundo Pedersen et al (2018), o baixo grau de instrução é um alvo potencial para a intervenção educativa e incremento de treinamentos a nível preventivo que resultem em benefícios para a saúde e meio ambiente.…”

Section: Discussionunclassified

Caracterização socioambiental de populações que residem em áreas com riscos de inundação

Santana

Santos

Pontes

et al. 2019

RICA

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Estudos apontam que 84,3 % da população brasileira passou a ser predominantemente urbana, no entanto as condições de infraestrutura das metrópoles não estão acompanhando tal crescimento, o que predispõe a expansão desordenada e a formação de áreas periféricas vulneráveis à processos infecciosos. Como consequência a esta problemática, surgem novos casos de doenças endêmicas nestas regiões, principalmente as de veiculação hídrica, devido à sobrecarga e poluição dos cursos hídricos pelo constante despejo de efluentes sem o devido tratamento. Neste sentido, o estudo objetiva caracterizar o perfil socioambiental de populações que residem em áreas com risco de inundação, produzindo evidências para o planejamento estratégico das políticas públicas de saúde. A área de estudo é caracterizada pelo aglomerado de pessoas em ambientes degradados com características alagadiças e deficiências no saneamento básico, o que potencializa a disseminação de patógenos e o processo do adoecimento dos que residem ou trabalham no local, por estarem mais expostos aos fatores de risco à saúde. Os dados mostraram que o perfil socioambiental da amostra envolveu predominantemente o sexo feminino, a faixa etária entre 15 e 30 anos, os que trabalham de maneira informal com rendimentos de até 1 salário mínimo, os que possuem baixa escolaridade e os que relataram estar expostos a condições insalubres. Diante do exposto, pode-se dizer que a problemática destas áreas envolve não somente questões sociais e sanitárias, mas uma série de comportamentos de risco que implicam em prejuízos ao meio ambiente e à qualidade de vida das pessoas.

show abstract

“…Our mixed-method analyses show that participants from both groups (i.e., general public and cleaners) are generally willing to consider using a robot like the one used in this study. This result reflects a general openness and acceptance of UV-C robots [18], despite low levels of knowledge and user experience [24]. Although there have been claims that digitalisation and automation will imminently overtake human jobs [3], evidence in the context of industrial robots show that jobs have not been replaced; yet there have been disruptive effects on employment due to the impact on task demand [7].…”

Section: B More Information Can Reassure But Also Raise Concernsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“They’re not going to do all the tasks we do”: Understanding Trust and Reassurance towards a UV-C Disinfection Robot

Trigo,

Reyes-Cruz,

Maior

et al. 2023

2023 32nd IEEE International Conference on Robot and Human Interactive Communication (RO-MAN)

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Increasingly, robots are adopted for routine tasks such as cleaning and disinfection of public spaces, raising questions about attitudes and trust of professional cleaners who might in future have robots as teammates, and whether the general public feels reassured when disinfection is carried out by robots. In this paper, we present the results of a mixed-methods user study exploring how trust and reassurance by both professional cleaners and members of the public is affected by the use of a UV-C disinfection robot and information about its performance after disinfecting a simulated classroom. The results show a range of insights for those designing and wishing to deploy UV-C robots: we found that trust and reassurance are affected by information about the UV-C robot's task performance, with more information coinciding with significantly more agreement to be able to judge that the robot is doing a good job. However, care should be taken when designing information about task performance to avoid misinterpretation. Overall, the results suggest a generally positive picture regarding the use of UV-C disinfecting robots and that cleaning professionals would be happy to have them as their teammates; however, there were also some concerns regarding the effect on less-skilled jobs. Taken together, our results provide considerations to make UV-C robots welcomed by cleaning teams as well as to provide reassurance to space users.

show abstract

Barriers and perceptions of environmental cleaning: An environmental services perspective

Cited by 8 publications

References 6 publications

“Our job is to break that chain of infection”: Challenges environmental management services (EMS) staff face in accomplishing their critical role in infection prevention

“Our job is to break that chain of infection”: Challenges environmental management services (EMS) staff face in accomplishing their critical role in infection prevention

Caracterização socioambiental de populações que residem em áreas com riscos de inundação

“They’re not going to do all the tasks we do”: Understanding Trust and Reassurance towards a UV-C Disinfection Robot

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About