By Healthcare Facilities Today

More environmental services directors are looking for ways to improve patient, visitor and staff safety by doing a better job of capturing, measuring and monitoring data related to cleaning and infection prevention efforts, according to an article on the Health Facilities Management website. 

It's a trend many experts believe will grow as financial penalties from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) for HAIs and preventable harm to patients continue to be assessed, the article said. And with health systems pushing outpatient services farther out into their communities, ES directors will have to manage the logistics of cleaning and care for these remote facilities.

Even when outsourced cleaning personnel are used for remote locations, ES directors have an obligation to ensure that these crews meet Joint Commission, CMS and other guidelines. That typically requires regular visits to these sites, according to Mike Bailey, CHESP, director of environmental services at Greenville (S.C.) Health System and president of the Association for the Healthcare Environment.

And there are indications that holding outpatient facilities to the same cleaning and disinfection rigors of hospitals has been challenging. A Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report published in the Journal of the American Medical Association in June 2010 found that among a sample of 68 U.S. ambulatory surgical centers (ASCs) in three states, lapses in infection control were common. 

Read the article.