Focus: Infection Control
Environmental service workers called unsung heroes of healthcare
Proper cleaning of surfaces is key to infection control
Healthcare delivery is more than just direct patient care, the “workhorse” environmental services department (EVS) provides cleaning and care of the hospital facility through as systematic approach that prevents the spread of disease, according to an article on The Marshall Democrat-News website.
Like hand hygiene, the proper cleaning of surfaces is key to infection control.
For instance, there are 23 EVS workers at Fitzgibbon Hospital in Marshall, Mo.
They are responsible for cleaning 125,000 square feet of space including clinical and nonclinical areas,” Matthew Tonnar, EVS Manager at Fitzgibbon, said in the article. “We had a staff member who recently moved from the community. In the nine years she was here, she was responsible for cleaning 46,000 rooms and 8.3 million square feet.”
Read the article.
October 11, 2017
Topic Area:
Infection Control
Recent Posts
Facilities management playbooks were written for acute care facilities, but ambulatory sites require a different approach.
Intermountain Health Felicia and Ben Horowitz Children’s Hospital is expected to open in 2030 at the UNLV Harry Reid Research and Technology Park in southwest Las Vegas.
The $452 million, 225-bed replacement hospital will provide inpatient psychiatric care and is expected to be completed in late 2027.
Wildfire smoke puts pressure on mechanical systems already working hard to maintain controlled indoor environments.
The $140 million project adds 120,000 square feet to the hospital, expanding its footprint to roughly 620,000 square feet.