Housekeeping

Silverdragon102, BSN · Jul 22, 2008

Moved to General nursing forum

StrwbryblndRN · Jul 22, 2008

When it comes to housekeeping it is not issues the nurses are dealing with but rather what housekeeping is dealing with.

Our housekeeping staff is pretty efficient and nice to others.

The nurses tend to leave equipment and iv fluids still hanging when housekeeping come around.

When it comes to how clean the room is, well it looks great. However I have no idea if testing is done to see if the methods to clean are successful. (specifically for contact/airborne pts)

It would be interesting to know if there is random swabs of frequently used items from the rooms. I have not seen or heard it done with our hosptial.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jul 22, 2008

Issues with housekeeping at our facility seems to revolve around not having trash cans in patient rooms and bathrooms emptied frequently enough. They aren't just being filled with a patient's tissues and menu slips; we put some big IV bags, tubing, etc in there and it fills up.

Patients tend to complain about not having available trash cans too.

Beyond that, I'd second the motion of finding out HOW clean a room is: sometimes after a room has been 'cleaned' it looks to me like the bed's been changed and that's it. I wonder how clean it actually is, and I'm not even the person who's going to be sleeping there!

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jul 22, 2008

Oh, wait, I have another one: moving cleaning equipment from an isolation room to another room! Please, please don't to into the vacated isolation room, mop up the floor with your stringy mophead, toss it in a murky bucket and then move to the next room to mop up THERE!

SteveNNP, MSN, NP · Jul 22, 2008

As far as linen services, we have been fighting to keep enough linens on hand, especially overnight. We have an ADC of 68 babies, and all beds are changed on night shift. Linen services refused to increase our PAR from an ADC reference of 58 babies, so were always running short. Plus no one will deliver linens at night. They also get our cart mixed up with peds' cart all the time.

As far as housekeeping, my biggest gripe is that they wait until 2am to show up with their iPods blaring while banging trashcans, snapping bags, etc, RIGHT next to my sleeping preemies. I've come close to smacking them on the forehead. We have terrible problems with trash cans overflowing (they won't come until 2am) and no paper towels at sinks. Management has been contacted but no improvement has been seen by me...

I work at a 1200+ bed facility.

jezbo537 · Jul 22, 2008

I have been to several hospitals, and I have yet to see anyone clean the curtains in the rooms also, have never seen anyone clean the metal rails or footboards or headboards on the beds. Germs are everywhere, and MRSA or CDiff pts can be in any room or at least at the hospitals I have seen. Just my thoughts on the issue.

casi, ASN, RN · Jul 22, 2008

I'm a night shifter, but the biggest problem on my end is having enough linens on hand for the night shift.

pagandeva2000, LPN · Jul 23, 2008

I have also wondered about the cleaning of equipment. I am not sure if I am pulling a contaminated IV pole or monitor into a new patient's bedside.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Jul 23, 2008

Yep, have to concur on the linen shortage thing for nights. We always seem to be sending techs or orderlies in search of much needed chux and sheets. Contrary to the belief of the dayshift, people make some really impressive messes at night. And our linen carts never seem to reflect that.

NrsheartTS · Jul 23, 2008

The houskeeping at my facility is pretty good but alot of staff has noticed that the "clean" linen does not look clean. I have pulled clean linen off the linen carts myself and i have observed large stains on the sheets and pillowcases. I am embarrased when I bring clean linen into the room and open it up just to find stains all on the linen. I havent had this problem at other facilities.