By Healthcare Facilities Today

Environmental services (ES) finally has come into its own, according to a blog on the Healthcare Purchasing News website by Susan Cantrell, ELS. Once thought of as merely broom pushing, with little relation to patient or caregiver illness, ES has developed into a science that no self-respecting infection-prevention program should be without.

An abstract by Tsoukalas and Loughlin from the 2013 Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy meeting highlighted an important but hitherto undetected connection between keeping the environment clean and infection prevention. The researchers reported that pathogens that survive environmental disinfection may also be able to develop resistance to antibiotics. That’s a terrifying double whammy, Cantrell wrote.

Cantrell quoted another study, published in the American Journal for Infection Control, in which the authors noted: "We evaluated the prevalence of multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii environmental contamination before and after discharge cleaning in rooms of infected/colonized patients. 46.9% of rooms and 15.3% of sites were found contaminated precleaning, and 25% of rooms and 5.5% of sites were found contaminated postcleaning. Cleaning significantly decreased environmental contamination of A baumannii; however, persistent contamination represents a significant risk factor for transmission. Further studies on this and more effective cleaning methods are needed."

Listing a number of ES products available, Cantrell wrote: "It is reassuring to know that the healthcare industry is right there on the forefront of exploring the science of cleaning, leading the way to safer environments for patients and caregivers alike." 

Read the article.