How Often Should a High Traffic Area Be Cleaned in a Healthcare Facility?
In the healthcare industry, preserving a clean, safe & hygienic facility is essential. Failure to properly maintain your environment leads to a host of problems, from the contamination of crucial medicines to the spread of dangerous viruses & pathogens. So, how often should high traffic areas in a healthcare facility be cleaned for sanitation?
Healthcare facilities are exposed to more infectious diseases, bacteria & germs than almost any other commercial environment. A proactive, comprehensive cleaning approach is the only way to effectively protect your patients, faculty & company’s reputation.
What is the ideal schedule for cleaning, sanitizing & disinfecting your offices, labs & patient rooms? The simple answer is, “It all depends”. Although regular commercial cleaning is crucial, the cadence of your cleaning schedule will vary depending on a range of factors. Read on for our full, behind-the-scenes guide to successful medical facility cleaning. (Be sure to read our post on cleaning validation.)
Understanding the Dynamics of High Traffic Area
Disinfection vs. Sterilization of High Traffic Area
- Disinfection involves the use of special cleaning supplies & products to reduce the number of microorganisms left on a surface, reducing the spread of germs.
- Sterilization is the gold standard in sanitation. Here, professionals leverage unique cleaning products to eradicate all microorganisms from medical equipment & surfaces.
- While certain environments, like your staff office, may only require cleaning & disinfection services weekly or monthly, others will require extensive disinfection & sterilization daily or multiple times a day. For instance, medical equipment like scalpels & machinery requires comprehensive sterilization after every use to avoid cross-contamination.
Factors Influencing Cleaning Frequency
As mentioned above, there are various factors that can influence how often you need to invest in professional cleaning, sanitation & infection prevention for your healthcare facility, especially in high traffic areas. While all medical environments need regular cleaning to adhere to CDC & health & safety guidelines.
Cleaning Schedules of High Traffic Areas Depends On:
- The type of facility: Certain medical facilities are exposed to more dangerous substances than others. Urgent care centers & hospitals full of people with compromised immune systems need more regular, comprehensive sterilization than a standard doctor’s office.
- Patient population & demographics: The patients you serve can also impact your cleaning schedule. Some segments of the population, such as very young children & older patients, don’t have the best defenses against pathogens & threats. This makes regular deep cleaning practices more important if you serve these groups.
- Seasonal considerations & disease prevalence: Certain times of year can increase the need for regular cleaning sessions. You may need to invest in additional cleaning tasks during flu season, for instance. Furthermore, when disease outbreaks occur, your medical cleaning strategy may need to be upgraded to help battle the spread of viruses & pathogens.
Risks Associated with Inadequate Cleaning
Although finding the right cleaning schedule & services for your medical facility can be time-consuming & complex, it is also crucial. Failure to adopt the right cleaning, disinfection & sanitation strategy means you fail to protect your patients & staff from the spread of dangerous infections & diseases, putting everyone your company encounters in danger.
An inadequate cleaning strategy also puts your reputation at risk. If you can’t protect your patients from spreading germs & bacteria, they won’t trust you with their health. This could mean you drive crucial clients away from your office or environment.
To make matters worse, poor cleaning practices put your organization at risk of expensive & disastrous regulatory & legal implications. If you’re not complying with the high standards set for the healthcare industry, you could face fines, lawsuits & more.
Is Your Maintenance Plan Meeting the Standard?
If you need to ask the question, “Is our maintenance plan good enough?” it probably isn’t. When operating a facility with a high traffic area, your environment is as clean & safe as it can possibly be. Evaluate your current cleaning practices & schedule carefully.
Ask yourself how often you invest in cleaning, disinfection, sanitation & sterilization & whether there are any risks you might be overlooking. Consider the weaknesses of your current plan carefully & look at the problems emerging. Is there an increase in staff absenteeism or a rise in negative feedback from patients?
To improve your cleaning schedule, search for a commercial cleaning provider with experience. Our experts at Pritchard are ready to advise you on improvements for the health & safety of your environment.
Our years of experience in medical cleaning will help you identify the gaps in your maintenance strategy. With us, you can protect your patients, your team & the reputation of your medical business.
Pritchard Cleaning Services for Healthcare Facilities
Medical facilities & healthcare organizations are under immense pressure to adhere to strict standards for health, safety, sanitation & hygiene. When you’re focused on running your business, serving patients & fighting back against disease, it’s easy to let things slip through the cracks, especially when it comes to high traffic areas.
Pritchard can be a valuable partner to leading medical companies in our region, providing a local, expert source of support & guidance. We have decades of experience cleaning medical offices & labs & offering disinfection services to healthcare facilities.
What’s more, we don’t just offer industry expertise; we tailor our services for each client, adapting our schedule & methods to suit your specific needs. Our GBAC-trained technicians & staff can leverage the latest advanced tools for deep cleaning to combat every type of pathogen in your environment. Plus, we can even offer green cleaning services when required.
Our state-of-the-art quality control strategy also ensures we can constantly promise exceptional attention to detail & excellence to every company we serve. Reach out today to find out how we can help you master your medical cleaning schedule.
Pritchard for Medical Cleaning Services
Keeping your medical facility clean, hygienic & pathogen-free is crucial to preserving your business reputation, protecting your staff & delivering exceptional care to patients. Unfortunately, navigating a complex & time-consuming cleaning schedule can be difficult without the right help.
When you’re ready to upgrade & enhance your maintenance plans, reach out to a team that can deliver proven results for your business. Work with Pritchard to achieve optimal cleanliness & elevate your company’s image. We can help determine the optimal schedule for how often high traffic areas in your healthcare facility should be cleaned.
Contact us today to learn more about our dedicated cleaning services for the healthcare industry. Be sure to follow us on LinkedIn for the latest updates & insider tips & tricks!