Infection and the spread of disease is always a high risk within healthcare environments such as Offices. Thankfully, understanding how to properly clean your facility goes a long way toward keeping your patients and staff healthy.

By adhering to established safety standards and industry best practices, you can ensure that your facility is sanitary, comfortable and safe for everyone in it.

Cleaning, Sanitizing and Disinfecting

In any setting, it's important that your cleaning crew knows the difference between cleaning, sanitizing and disinfecting. Let's take a closer look at all three terms.

• Cleaning: When your crew cleans, they'll remove debris, organic substances and other visible soil directly from a variety of surfaces and objects. A mixture of soap or detergent with water should be used to scrub and wipe down surfaces to help remove germs. This process won't necessarily kill all pathogens, but it can certainly help to reduce the germ population and lower possible risk of infection.

• Sanitizing: The sanitizing process will lower the amount or number of bacteria to a safe level based on current standards. Note that sanitizing may not be sufficient for eliminating all viruses.

• Disinfecting: Hospital-grade disinfectants are intended to eliminate infectious agents, including bacteria, viruses and fungi, to varying degrees. Your cleaning crew should select a disinfectant suited to the level of disinfection needed given your facility's individual practice and type of care performed.

Cleaning Exam Rooms

The exam room is often the busiest room in your facility. Countless numbers of patients walk through the doors each day, so it's no wonder that this room is a hotbed for germs. Your cleaning crew should thoroughly wipe down doorknobs and railings using a disposable wipe soaked in disinfectant cleaner. High-touch areas such as chairs, and anything else commonly touched by patients and care providers – including hand sanitizer or soap dispensers – should also be wiped down. A hospital-grade disinfectant must be used. These special disinfectants won't leave a residue behind like bleach will, and most don't require any further rinsing or wiping after they've been applied.

Terminal Cleaning

A patient is often most vulnerable to infection while undergoing a procedure in the operating room. Isolation rooms, meanwhile, are designated for patients who are currently infectious and need to be kept separate from visitors and other patients. For both rooms, your cleaning crew will need to take special care when they treat and clean these areas. A process known as terminal cleaning is used to ensure complete elimination of all pathogens from the environment, for the safety of the next patient as well as facility staff. Terminal cleaning is an intense disinfecting procedure that involves removing every detachable item in the room for disinfection and then properly disinfecting light fixtures, air ducts and all surfaces from the ceiling down to the floor. Make sure your cleaning crew understands the terminal cleaning process and how to properly disinfect these vital areas of your facility.

Keeping your healthcare facility properly cleaned is important, and only a qualified, knowledgeable crew should be entrusted with this critical function. ServiceMaster Clean specializes in providing exceptional and thorough enivornmental services for healthcare facilities of all types. We follow rigorous standards and develop tight protocols to ensure that every site we clean is safe for patients and employees alike. Contact us today to discover if our industry-leading capabilities can help you.

What is Coronavirus?

Coronavirus (CoV) refers to a family of viruses that cause illness ranging from the common cold to more severe diseases such as Middle East Respiratory Syndrome (MERS-CoV) and Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS-CoV). SARS-CoV-2, also known as 2019-nCoV or the Wuhan coronavirus, is a novel or new coronavirus that was first identified in humans in Wuhan, China, in December 2019.

ISSA and the Global Biorisk Advisory Council (GBAC), a division of ISSA, have issued a statement about the Wuhan coronavirus and will continue to monitor and provide updated information about the outbreak. The association is committed to providing our members and communities with resources on how to clean and disinfect spaces and how to reduce the risk to human health.

Precautionary Measures CoronaVirus

You can help prevent yourself from getting and spreading the Wuhan coronavirus–and other respiratory illnesses–by following these steps:

• Wash your hands often with soap and water for 20 seconds. (Handwashing: Clean Hands Save Lives) Use 70% alcohol-based hand sanitizer if soap and water are not available.

• Avoid touching eyes, nose and mouth with unwashed hands.

• Avoid close contact such as kissing, hugging, and sharing cups or eating utensils with people who are sick.

• Cover your coughs and sneezes with a tissue or shirt sleeve, not your hands.

• Clean and disinfect frequently touched surfaces, such as toys and doorknobs, especially if someone is sick.

• Stay home when you are sick.

CoronaVirus Preventative Cleaning

• We Wear disposable gloves when cleaning and disinfecting surfaces. Gloves should be discarded after each cleaning.  Clean hands immediately after gloves are removed.

• If surfaces are dirty, they should be cleaned using a detergent or soap and water prior to disinfection.

• For disinfection, alcohol solutions with at least 70% alcohol, and common EPA-registered disinfectants will be effective as well as bleach.

• Dwell time is followed as manufacturers recommendation.

  • A list of products with EPA-approved emerging viral pathogens claims, maintained by the American Chemistry Council Center for Biocide Chemistries (CBC), is available at: https://www.americanchemistry.com/Novel-Coronavirus-Fighting-Products-List.pdfexternal icon. Products with EPA-approved emerging viral pathogens claims are expected to be effective against COVID-19 based on data for harder to kill viruses.

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