Healthcare Hygiene magazine November 2019 | Page 30

Challenging Variation of Hospital Cleaning
with a Simple Four-Step Protocol
By Kelly M. Pyrek
V
ariation in environmental hygiene interventions is
compounding the challenge of understanding the
potential impact that cleaning and disinfection has on
infection rates.
While recommendations exist, mainly in the medical
literature as well as from professional organizations, there
is not one single, standardized protocol for U.S. hospitals.
“There is no accepted cleaning protocol because there
is still insufficient evidence for healthcare cleaning and how
it should be done,” says Stephanie J. Dancer, BSc, MB BS,
MSc, MD, FRCPath, DTM, a medical microbiologist at NHS
Lanarkshire and professor of microbiology at Edinburgh
Napier University in the UK. “It is difficult to agree a universal
process without a robust evidence base. The current debate
is skirting around the edges by arguing over cleaning and/or
decontamination methods and risk assessment of specific
patient areas.”
Dancer adds, “Cleaning is not sexy; it is underpaid,
undervalued and viewed through a prism of social class.
There is little commitment to produce standardized guide-
lines, particularly if implementation is going to cost more.
People who could make it happen do not understand the
importance of cleaning because they may not have had to
do it for themselves.”
There is no accepted cleaning protocol because there is still insufficient evidence for healthcare
cleaning and how it should be done.
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november 2019 • www.healthcarehygienemagazine.com