Aged Care Insite Issue 92 | December 2015 - January 2016 | Page 19

practical living

Top 10 touch-points in a resident’s room
include:
• Doorknobs
• Light switches
• Basin and taps
• Chairs
• Bedside tables
• Bed (including any railings)
• Transport trolleys
• Wardrobes
• Windows and drapes
• Instruments or individual objects, such as
medicine cups, remote controls, phones,
walking frames.

AUDIT AGAINST BENCHMARKS

Keep it clean, people
Consistent workflow is an important
part of lowering the risk of infection
and maintaining a healthy facility.

HANDLE SPILLS PROMPTLY

By Murray McDonald

T

he costs of poor cleaning go a step
further in aged care than in most
other commercial sectors.
Most sectors understand the importance
of occupational health and safety concerns,
hand washing and reducing the risk of
cross-contamination when cleaning. In aged
care, infection control is added to this list.
The elderly are some of the most vulnerable
in society. They are highly susceptible to
infection and disease outbreaks. A part of
reducing these risks is consistent cleaning
practices and workflow.
Infection control requires using hospitalgrade equipment, systems and methods,
and correct evaluation measures.
Common bacteria that can be found
in aged-care environments include VRE,
MRSA, C.difficile and gastro. When an
outbreak of these types of infections
occurs, a domino effect can take place

Most aged-care facilities will have some
sort of auditing procedure in place. One of
the biggest issues with these practices is
inconsistent data. This normally happens
due to the range of different forms that
need to be filled or inconsistent practices
among different auditors in a facility.
A simple way to ensure a consistent
cleaning workflow is to pre-mark all
surfaces that require cleaning. There
are invisible markers that can be used to
mark touch points and key environmental
surfaces. Once the mark is placed, they are
visible only under a special light.
Once areas have been marked, the cleaner
goes in. Then a manager or auditor can look
for the marks post-cleaning. If marks are still
present, key areas have been overlooked.

that involves costs such as extra resources,
closure of facility areas, extra staff and
reputational damage.
The following are three key ways facilities
can ensure poor cleaning processes are
reduced, through a consistent cleaning
workflow.

PRIORITISE TOUCH-POINTS
A report by Singapore General Hospital
titled “Impact of a hospital-wide
hand hygiene promotion strategy on
healthcare-associated infections” found
one of the five key elements for reducing
MRSA outbreaks was “decontamination of
the environment and equipment”.
Ensuring that areas and surfaces
receiving regular contact are given a deep
clean in every resident room, bathroom,
kitchen and common rooms will reduce
the spread of common aged-care bacteria.

Attending to a body fluid spill as soon as
possible is paramount to preventing the
spread of bacteria and disease. Bestpractice infection control advises going
over the spills with a deep clean as soon as
it is practical.
Body fluid spills on surfaces and floors
are common causes of Gastro in aged-care
facilities. These spills tend to occur at night,
which can make it difficult to deal with them
straight away because of the disruption it
can cause to sleeping residents.
Instead of leaving a spill until the next
morning, methods such as diluting the
spill with water, absorbing the water with
a towel, then going over the area with
a steam machine the next morning, are
ideal for taking care of a spill as soon as
practical. It’s also important to ensure the
towel is disposed of effectively to prevent
the spread of disease. ■
Murray McDonald is director of Duplex
Cleaning Machines and the author of
5 Steps to Chemical Free Cleaning in
Healthcare. Go to duplexcleaning.com.au
agedcareinsite.com.au 19