Housekeeping/Isolation Rooms

Nesher, BSN, RN · May 11, 2005

Have you read your hospitals policy and procedures on terminal cleans for isolation rooms? If so do you see the housekeeping staff not following that policy? If that is the case you have grounds to point it out.

Perhaps the housekeepers are not aware of the WHY involved in their efforts - education goes a long way.

madwife2002, BSN, RN · May 11, 2005

We organise special cleaners to come in and deep clean.

nursbee04 · May 11, 2005

Have you read your hospitals policy and procedures on terminal cleans for isolation rooms? If so do you see the housekeeping staff not following that policy? If that is the case you have grounds to point it out.
Perhaps the housekeepers are not aware of the WHY involved in their efforts - education goes a long way.

(lets just say I am not happy with our housekeeping policies & procedures....at all.)

I am familiar with my P&P, I am just curious about other facilities in comparison to the one I work for.

hollyster · May 11, 2005

I completely disagree with the way rooms were cleaned in the unit that I previously worked for. The isolation rooms had curtains, wire racks with supplies, cloth covered chairs. When a pt was discharged the room was cleaned but the supplies were left in the racks and the curtains and chairs were not cleaned nor were the air vents. I brought this up with the infection control nurse at one of the unit meetings and her reply was " We do not need to look for problems. I am sure everything meets regulations."

I wonder how many pts have been reinfected because of of improper room cleaning.

Nurse Bird · May 16, 2005

In our hospital, it's the nurses responsibility to clean any patient equipment, eg. blood pressure cuffs, bed mattresses, patient lockers, etc. It is the domestics job to change the curtains, clean window sills, bathroom (of the very rare en-suite room!), chairs and deep scrub the floors.

Hope this helps.

Fliss · Jun 3, 2005

On my last placement if a patient who was been barrier nursed was discharged the curtains would be removed and replaced with clean ones, the bed would be stripped and cleaned, the floor, sink, locker and surfaces were cleaned and anything left in the room ie sharps boxes, rolls of tape, packets of wipes were all put in clinical waste.

ginger58, ASN, RN · Sep 17, 2006

On my last placement if a patient who was been barrier nursed was discharged the curtains would be removed and replaced with clean ones, the bed would be stripped and cleaned, the floor, sink, locker and surfaces were cleaned and anything left in the room ie sharps boxes, rolls of tape, packets of wipes were all put in clinical waste.

That's how it's done where I work. The curtain around the bed is supposed to be replaced but it's not happening so I've notified ID. Here's what I found at the CDC website: Routine and Terminal Cleaning

The room, or cubicle, and bedside equipment of patients on Transmission-Based Precautions are cleaned using the same procedures used for patients on Standard Precautions, unless the infecting microorganism(s) and the amount of environmental contamination indicates special cleaning. In addition to thorough cleaning, adequate disinfection of bedside equipment and environmental surfaces (e.g., bedrails, bedside tables, carts, commodes, doorknobs, faucet handles) is indicated for certain pathogens, especially enterococci, which can survive in the inanimate environment for prolonged periods of time.(94) Patients admitted to hospital rooms that previously were occupied by patients infected or colonized with such pathogens are at increased risk of infection from contaminated environmental surfaces and bedside equipment if they have not been cleaned and disinfected adequately. The methods, thoroughness, and frequency of cleaning and the products used are determined by hospital policy.