Environmental cleaning and disinfection: Sustaining changed practice and improving quality in the community hospital

Abstract

Objective: Short-term improvements in hospital room cleaning can readily be achieved but are difficult to maintain. This is particularly true for high-risk, “high-touch” surfaces. Therefore, we embarked on a process to sustain improvements in surface cleaning and disinfection to reduce hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates. Interventions: Our environmental services (EVS) and infection prevention departments incorporated a formal education, monitoring, and feedback process for focused cleaning and disinfection of high-touch surfaces into their routine policies and procedures in 2011. Cleaning validation was performed by infection prevention liaison nurses using a fluorescent targeting method to evaluate the thoroughness of cleaning. Results: Surface cleaning performance on medical-surgical units in 2011 was 74.7%, but this rate incrementally increased in response to the interventions and has been sustained at >90% for the past 6 years. Similar patterns of improvement were observed in the operating room, labor and delivery, endoscopy suite and cardiac catheterization laboratory. Conversely, HAI rates, particularly C. difficile rates, decreased by 75% and surgical site infection rates decreased by 55%. Conclusions: EVS training, monitoring, and feedback interventions, instituted 10 years ago have enhanced our environmental cleaning and disinfection efforts in multiple areas of the hospital and have been sustained to the present. Although other concurrent initiatives to reduce infection rates also existed, the improvements in environmental cleaning were associated with dramatic reductions in HAI rates over the 10-year period.

Risk factors for transmission of carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii in outbreak situations: results of a case-control study

“…Improving hand hygiene compliance has repeatedly been demonstrated to significantly reduce the spread of pathogens, both within and outside of outbreaks [ 29 , 30 ]. Similarly, the importance of environmental cleaning and disinfection of surfaces has been demonstrated multiple times to play a key role in preventing the spread of pathogens and in the context of outbreak containment [ 9 , 31 ]. This is particularly relevant given the high tenacity of A. baumannii on inanimate surfaces [ 32 ].…”

Assessment of a Dialysis Unit Compliance with the Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control Procedures in One of the Biggest Health Insurance Hospitals in Egypt

“…In the present study, bacterial counts decreased after the disinfection of the environmental surfaces but were still above the permissible level (< 5 CFU/cm 2 ( 14)). Regular training sessions for nursing staff and housekeeping personnel should be performed to improve the infection control practices and hence decrease the bacterial load and HAIs in the hemodialysis unit (10,21) (31).…”

Guarding Health: A Comprehensive Review of Nosocomial Infections in Sickle Cell Anemia, a Multifaceted Approach to Prevention

“…Targeting high-touch surfaces and medical equipment, routine disinfection aims to mitigate the persistence of pathogens, thereby reducing the risk of nosocomial infections. Healthcare facilities can create a safer milieu through meticulous environmental cleaning practices, minimizing potential reservoirs of infectious agents and enhancing overall patient safety [ 23 ].…”