Cleanliness Project

amoLucia · Mar 16, 2017

A real Visual Awareness program for staff when they enter & leave a room.

1) When entering a room, stand there, nice & still, and close your eyes for some 10 seconds. Don't wiggle your head. Open your eyes and then QUICK! What catches your eye/attention? If it's clutter or mess, then that's your cue to straighten it up.

The human eye/perception catches asymmetry and quick dominant images. I learned that from TV.

2) When leaving a room, stand in the doorway with your back to the room. Then turn around and scan the room. Again, anything jumping out at you? Straighten it up.

A CNA taught me this trick that she learned in her CNA class about maintaining a pt environment. (And that CNA was gooood!)

Of course, pt preferences will trump some of your attempts to move around things. And some necessary equip is just plain UGLY, bulky and forever in the way (or so it seems).

I worked in one LTC facility that was run like a military bootcamp. Right down to what should be in what drawer and where the nightstand should be after the pt was OOB. The Administrator would actually make inspection rounds. I kid you NOT about that Admin!!!

Those quick visual checks did help to keep rooms a bit more tidy. But initiating a program that increases awareness is the purpose.

Sour Lemon · Mar 16, 2017

We are working on ways to keep our hospital rooms a little more tidy and clutter free on our Med-Surg unit. Any tips or suggestions you've used??

Good staffing makes a huge difference. When the sky is falling, no one cares about a straw wrapper that fell on the floor or a little puddle of water on a patient's bedside table.