Soft-surface disinfection is one of the more commonly overlooked environmental cleaning issues in healthcare, according to a Q&A on the Becker's Hospital Review website with Kelly A. Reynolds, an associate professor at the University of Arizona's Zuckerman College of Public Health and co-director of the Environment, Exposure Science and Risk Assessment Center.

According to Reynolds, the lack of awareness surrounding the issue is the biggest challenge in soft-surface decontamination. There is no approved standard protocol that outlines steps for regularly treating soft surfaces. 

"This lack of guidance means soft-surface decontamination often goes overlooked, which in turn can put patients, visitors and staff at risk for infection," she said in the article.

According to Reynolds, a recent Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology survey asked infection preventionists how often privacy curtains in their facilities are cleaned, and 37 percent of respondents answered only when visibly soiled, 13 percent answered every month, 13 percent answered every three months and another 13 percent answered once per year. 

"Meanwhile, it takes a standard privacy curtain only two days to become contaminated," Reynolds said.

Read the article.