Operations Related to Environmental Hygiene
Fabrics play an important role in the transmission of bacteria. They have been proven to act as “fomites” – or where organisms can grow and multiply. And, even though soft surfaces constitute a significant portion of the patient’s immediate environment, they are often overlooked in everyday…
EXPLORE spoke with Brian Tallmadge, CHESP, assistant chief, Environmental Management Services, at Ralph H. Johnson VA Medical Center in Charleston, S.C., about the latest technologies available for EVS professionals.
Given that an HAI can cost a facility up to $45,000, a more comprehensive approach to surface disinfection may be necessary. The adoption of UV surface treatment technology may be a cost-effective intervention.
Part one of this two-part article provides an overview of Legionnaires’ disease, the source of the bacterium in hospital water systems and aerosol vectors of infection. Part two will focus on the important role that a multidiscipline team plays in managing the legionellosis risk.
Preventable healthcare-associated infections (pHAIs) are still a major challenge in this country’s healthcare facilities. An aggressive intervention initiative is needed to address this problem as rapidly and completely as possible. Further, there’s never been a stronger and more well-defined need…
Good isn’t good enough anymore. In today’s competitive healthcare environment, excellence will be the expectation not the exception. From meeting HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems) standards for room cleanliness and quietness to lowering operating expenses as…
EXPLORE spoke with Candace Thompson, CHESP, and Lea Beach, CHESP, about infection control, their department’s working relationships with Infection Preventionists (IPs), the latest challenges, how they empower their staff, and best practices for hand-washing and PPE compliance.
Kelly A. Reynolds, PhD, presents on the 2013 trends in environmental hygiene, including magnitude of HAIs, primary pathogens, fomite contamination, pathogen tracking, mitigation strategies, and new UA research on soft surface sanitizer efficacy.
To AHE members at the EXCHANGE 2012 conference, Laurie Leon, director of materials management at Boca Raton Regional Hospital, highlighted that 90 percent of hospitals could not readily pull together cost and weight data for their waste streams. This reality can lead to financial pressure.
The OSHA Hazard Communication (HazCom) Standard has been significantly revised for the first time since it came about in the 1980s. Those changes in the “Right-to-Know” Standard, as HazCom is commonly called, have brought in the use of the Globally Harmonized System (GHS) to identify and…