Background
Environmental cleaning interventions have increased cleaning effectiveness and reduced
antibiotic-resistant organisms in hospitals. This study examined cleaning in Canadian
acute care hospitals with the goal of developing strategies to improve cleaning and
reduce antibiotic-resistant organism rates.
Methods
Managers most responsible for environmental services (EVS) completed an extensive
online survey that assessed EVS resources and cleaning practices.
Results
The response rate was 50.5%; 96 surveys were completed, representing 103 of 204 hospitals.
Whereas 86.3% (82/95) of managers responsible for EVS reported their staff was adequately
trained and 76.0% (73/96) that supplies and equipment budgets were sufficient, only
46.9% (45/96) reported that EVS had enough personnel to satisfactorily clean their
hospital. A substantial minority (36.8%, 35/95) of EVS departments did not audit the
cleaning of medical surgical patient rooms on at least a monthly basis. Cleaning audits
of medical surgical patient rooms frequently included environmental marking methods
in only one third (33.3%, 31/93) of hospitals and frequently included the measurement
of residual bioburden in only 13.8% (13/94).
Conclusion
There was a general need for increased and improved auditing of environmental cleaning
in Canadian hospitals, and there were perceived EVS staffing deficits in the majority
of hospitals.
Key Words
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to American Journal of Infection ControlAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- A comparison of infection control program resources, activities, and antibiotic resistant organism rates in Canadian acute care hospitals in 1999and 2005: pre- and post-severe acute respiratory syndrome.Am J Infect Control. 2008; 36: 711-717
- Prevalence of colonization and infection with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus and of Clostridium difficile infection in canadian hospitals.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2013; 34: 687-693
- Long-term control of hospital wide, endemic multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii through a comprehensive “bundle” approach.Am J Infect Control. 2009; 37: 715-722
- The role of environmental cleaning in the control of hospital-acquired infection.J Hosp Infect. 2009; 73: 378-385
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee. Guidelines for environmental infection control in health-care facilities. MMWR 2003;(RR-107):52:1-48.
- Best practices for cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization in all health care settings.Ministry of Health and Long-term Care, Toronto2006
- Evidence that contaminated surfaces contribute to the transmission of hospital pathogens and an overview of strategies to address contaminated surfaces in hospital settings.Am J Infect Control. 2013; 41: S6-S11
- Role of the environment in the transmission of Clostridium difficile in health care facilities.Am J Infect Control. 2013; 41: S105-S110
- Identifying opportunities to enhance environmental cleaning in 23 acute care hospitals.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2008; 29: 1-7
- Improving cleaning of the environment surrounding patients in 36 acute care hospitals.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2008; 29: 1035-1041
- Improving environmental hygiene in 27 intensive care units to decrease multidrug-resistant bacterial transmission.Crit Care Med. 2010; 38: 1054-1059
- Impact of an environmental cleaning intervention on the presence of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococci on surfaces in intensive care unit rooms.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2008; 29: 593-599
- Does improving surface cleaning and disinfection reduce health care-associated infections?.Am J Infect Control. 2013; 41: S12-S19
- Beyond the Hawthorne effect: reduction of Clostridium difficile environmental contamination through active intervention to improve cleaning practices.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2013; 34: 524-526
- Measuring the effect of enhanced cleaning in a UK hospital: a prospective cross-over study.BMC Med. 2009; 7: 28
- The working relationships of infection prevention and control programs and environmental services and associations with antibiotic-resistant organisms in Canadian acute care hospitals.Am J Infect Control. 2014; 42: 349-352
- Cleanliness audit of clinical surfaces and equipment: who cleans what?.J Hosp Infect. 2011; 78: 178-181
Article info
Footnotes
This research was supported by the Canadian Association of Environmental Management through an unrestricted grant-in-aid from Wood Wyant.
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2014 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
