Should Nurses have to clean patients rooms after a patient dies or is discharged??

SarahMaria, MSN, RN · Oct 25, 2015

I take out unit trash all the time and I am not above cleaning or mopping if needed. I don't see myself as above helping out.

CraigB-RN, MSN, RN · Oct 25, 2015

None facility I worked at this was the consequence of better nurse patient ratio's. More RN's, less ancillary staff. Housekeeping did terminal cleaning,but we turned over rooms as needed.

Karou · Oct 25, 2015

I don't view this as being an issue of "helping out" or being "above" housekeeping duties. I clean blood, vomit, urine, feces, whatever is necessary. I don't have the time or training to turn over a room. I don't have the supplies. It would take me three times as long as housekeeping and it would take away time from my patients who actually need me. It's ridiculous.

For those who do this, do you actually clean the entire room as thoroughly as a housekeeper would? Between bed rails, computer keyboards, wheels, faucet and doorknobs, inside drawers, IV pole/pump, walls? Do you have the appropriate cleaning agents for different surfaces? Are supplies readily available? How are the mops sanitized afterwards? How long does it take you?

And curious- what do your units HAI's look like?

I wouldn't want my family member in a room that was "cleaned" by a rushed and overworked nurse or PCT. I wouldn't want my family member to use their call light only to have to wait because the person they needed was turning over a room.

Unless it's absolutely necessary and staff have the TIME and training to do this, I think it's a terrible idea. It might work in the ER where patients haven't stayed in the room as long, rooms are smaller, and quick turnover is a higher priority.

JVoEDrn · Oct 25, 2015

In the ED we clean our own rooms. We use the purple type wipes mostly which have a kill time of 2minutes. We wipe down the bed, the counters, pick up any random little pieces of paper or plastic and call it a clean. New fitted sheet, gown on the bed and bam! The room is ready. EVS Coke every few hours to take out the trash and replace the soiled bin and that's it.

BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN · Oct 25, 2015

I'm not sure why you're worried about the "legality" of it. It really sounds more like you think it's beneath you, as a nurse. I can absolutely clean a room, but probably not to the specifics that it is ready to accept a new patient!

nurseactivist · Oct 26, 2015

For those who sign a contract, you will oftent see the language, "all duties as assigned." With a union contract, we would fight it as working in another scope of practice. It doesn't make it safe or logical. If in a small facility, non-union, the best approach would be to have all nurses employed there present it as a concern. It makes it harder to fire everyone. Are you appropriately trained and able to use the appropriate chemicals for each patient? I would present the issue as it takes away time from your patients and you want the best possible care for the patients? It is hard for management to argue that they want less. In addition, the focus isn't on you being unwilling to do a task, "beneath you."

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Oct 26, 2015

Why wouldn't it be legal? Do you really think the legislature would sit down and pass a law that says "nurses cannot clean a patient's room"?

Nonyvole, BSN, RN · Oct 27, 2015

Cleaning has, historically, been part of nursing duties. If the wards were dirty, it wasn't the fault of the housekeeper, it was the fault of the nurses that didn't dust up to standard, didn't fold linens correctly, or let the windows get smudged. (Heck, we were taught how to make beds in nursing school...) Granted, pre-Florence Nightingale, it was a little different, but we aren't practicing that sort of nursing anymore, no? We've taken her teachings and evolved them as times have changed, correct?

But in my department we do a fast cleaning - bed, monitor, counter, pick up trash, and restock - between patients. If the trash or linen bag is full, we take it out and yes, that means walking it to the room with the big bins. Bodily fluids? We wipe them up. Only call housekeeping if the room needs more involved cleaning than we can provide, like mopping or if the patient had C-Diff or bedbugs or other stuff that our cleaning will not cover.

Housekeeping comes through once each shift. And really, it works out better because places that I've worked where we have had housekeeping to clean the rooms, it always ended up that we were waiting on them in order to just fill them up again. Increased patient wait times, decreased patient satisfaction, and more stress for the employees.

Julius Seizure · Oct 29, 2015

. I watched one of our EVS people clean a bed and I was amazed at all the crevices they clean in.

Can they come show our housekeepers that? I've never seen a single crevice cleaned. Just spray and wipe the top of the railings and mattress.

For those who do this, do you actually clean the entire room as thoroughly as a housekeeper would? Between bed rails, computer keyboards, wheels, faucet and doorknobs, inside drawers, IV pole/pump, walls?

Where are all these amazing housekeepers??? I want to work with them!

canigraduate · Nov 2, 2015

I have a thing where I tell managers that they are more than welcome to tell me to do something, but until they manufacture the time to do it in, it isn't going to get done.

I already don't always pee, eat, or get a break. I'm not adding in cleaning a room unless I get to take something else out.

I also educate managers on the stupidity of paying an RN wage to do a lower wage job.

Pride/hardwork17 · Nov 2, 2015

Maybe legal was the wrong word to use. I was just infuriated by the latest demand from my company. I was venting and used the wrong word, so excuse me!

I am not stupid to think that this is in the legal system and needs legislature to intervene. Give me a break!

Momof8CNA · Nov 4, 2015

at our hospital, even CNA's dont do any sort of cleaning, they always call a housekeeper. that said, if i were told to clean something, i would hop to it, i dont mind.