It may kill you
By RON MCQUADE, reeze Facilities Solutions

 If I were to ask the question ‘What is the fourth leading cause of death of Canadians?’ you may be shocked by the answer. It is not car accidents, cancer or diabetes. The answer is nosocomial or hospital acquired infections.
Nosocomial infections are deadly. A recent report from the United States stated that approximately 5.7 per cent of all patients (two million individuals) admitted to U.S. hospitals acquire nosocomial infections, of which 3.8 per cent prove fatal. That calculates to 70,000 people dying each year from such infections.
This is a significant challenge to the housekeeping professional as housekeeping continues to be reduced to help support the ongoing thirst to support more and more clinical operations in most hospitals. This could prove to have disastrous consequences. The increase of resistant organisms such as (itals)clostridium difficile(enditals) (C. difficile), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSDA) and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) are on the increase, and very difficult to kill on environmental surfaces.

Nearly every kind of environmental surface is a possible breeding pool for such infectious organisms. Some of these organisms have been recovered from countertops and other surfaces after five and seven days. All touchable surfaces, such as door knobs, light switches, bathroom fixtures and portable equipment used between patients are possible sources for infection of a patient.
As housekeeping professionals we must ensure that our housekeeping program addresses this ever increasing risk. The detail cleaning program must be robust and ensure that daily cleaning on touch surfaces, bathrooms and high risk environmental surfaces are cleaned in accordance with cleaning specifications and prescribed frequency.
I cannot stress enough the need for the housekeeping professional and the infection prevention and control department to have a close working relationship. This department can act as one of your biggest supports and can be an excellent advocate when dealing with senior levels of your organization for resources to implement a proper housekeeping program. The infection control department can provide you with excellent educational resources, clinical and scientific information to back-up the need for more housekeeping hours.
Another important component is to have the proper chemical to do the job. I recently heard of one hospital that went entirely chemical free. They went with a complete microfibre based cleaning program and are not using any type of cleaning detergent or chemical disinfection. Many other hospitals still use a combination of a detergent-based quaternary disinfectant. Some are using hydrogen peroxide. The important point is to understand what the product is affective against and the dwell time needed to kill the organism. This information is available from your chemical manufacturer.
It is the responsibility of the housekeeping professional in our healthcare facilities to ensure the environment is clean and safe.
At the end of the day, you have a moral responsibility to ensure that environmental surfaces and the cleaning program are not the cause of any nosocomial infections which the data shows could be the cause of your own death or that of a member of your family.