According to an article in Scientific American, hospitals that have linked their reputations to esteemed surgeons and cutting-edge technologies are now also focusing on janitorial services to improve patient care.
Because infections in hospitalized patients have become more difficult to treat - and some of the most dangerous bacteria are the ones that survive on inorganic surfaces such as keyboards, bed rails and privacy curtains - hospitals must rely on a first class cleaning staff.
"Hand hygiene is very, very important," says Michael Phillips, a hospital epidemiologist at New York University Langone Medical Center who has been studying this problem. "But we are coming to understand that it is one of just several important interventions necessary to break the chain of infection that threatens our patients."
Read the article.
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