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

[Pride/hardwork17]

I work for an Impatient Hospice Facility. Currently they cut down on housekeepers and because of the fast turnovers of patients, we nurses are required to clean the patient's room so we can quickly get an admission. Is this legal? I would like to know if anyone else has been required to do this... We are all frustrated but we can't afford to lose our jobs.

Thanks!!

[wanderlustnurse88, RN]

We empty garbage if needed. We try to strip linens and do a quick sweep through the room after it's empty to get rid of IV tubing, o2 tubing, odds and ends. If we don't have time, the housekeeper will. We make the beds though after it's been cleaned. We are a small hospital with housekeeping 07-15.

[toomuchbaloney]

Must be that your inpatient hospice doesn't mind if your hospice patients or family members suffer unit acquired infections because the rooms, surfaces, and equipment were casually cleaned by nursing staff who were not trained in the proper disinfecting techniques and who likely don't have the time to spend providing this non-nursing function.

It probably saves them some money though.

[hybr1d]

I'm writing from Sweden so it's most likely a bit different here. We clean the rooms, if time allows, but only beds and such, housekeeping does the floors and bathrooms.

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Legal?????? You don't need some fancy degree to clean, the housekeeping department don't have one. Your more trained in microbes and germ involvement than them if you want to be factual.

I clean rooms myself when the housekeeping staff isn't available.

If you want to be factual, environmental services are thoroughly trained on disinfecting a room and all surfaces. A nurse has not been trained .

Factually, a CNA cleaning a room is not the same as an RN cleaning the room.

[InScrubs_Wyoming307]

Yes it is legal, but you would have to do as thorough a job as the housekeeper would.

This is really a task for a CNA or housekeeper.

A task for a CNA?! No, I'm busy taking care of 12 patients. I'll strip the bed and gather the trash IF I have time, but ANYONE can clean a room. CNAs are too busy providing patient care to be housekeepers.

[BrandonLPN, LPN]

Of course it's legal. But I would laugh *so* hard at the ridiculous human being who tried to tell me that I was expected to clean a room after a death or discharge.

[mtmkjr, BSN]

It's unfortunate that the thread went off the rails with the use of the word "legal".

OP, if you had asked, "My facility is requiring nurses to clean rooms between patients. How should we handle this issue?" I can guarantee that responses would have been more helpful.

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

Courtesy of Davey Do:

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OP hasn't even been back to AN in over a year.