Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Special Outpatient Surgery Edition - Infection Control - May 2018

Outpatient Surgery Magazine, providing current information on Surgical Services, Surgical Facility Administration, Outpatient Surgery News and Trends, OR Excellence and more.

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in the OR, and put the assignments in writ- ing. Not having these duties clearly defined can create confusion between your nursing and housekeeping staffs, says Stephanie Nester, RN. When she took over as the infection control and quality coordinator at Carris Health Surgery Center – Willmar (Minn.), she found out that the OR staff didn't know that housekeeping was clean- ing some things weekly that they assumed were being done daily. To remedy this, Ms. Nester met with each department separately to find out what items they were cleaning and when they were cleaning them. She then worked out a protocol that specifically laid out what nurs- ing staff and housekeeping would be responsible for addressing and created logs that they could mark off every day to help them keep track. In the mornings, before the surgical day begins, the nursing staff comes in and wipes down everything in the ORs and employs an ultraviolet light whole-room disinfecting robot in each room. In between cases, they take 10 to 15 minutes to wipe down high-touch areas such as computers, the surgical table and any items that were within 3 feet of the patient. Then, after the day's last case, they wipe down everything one last time, including door handles, light switches and computers. When housekeeping comes in at day's end to do the terminal cleaning, they focus on vertical surfaces and the floors; they don't touch the equipment. They also run the UV robot after they finish M A y 2 0 1 8 • O U T PA T I E N TS U R G E R Y. N E T • 3 1 Who's Cleaning What and When? If you don't clearly define cleaning duties for your housekeeping and nursing staffs, some surfaces might get cleaned twice — and some not at all. We've got you covered. Go to outpa- tientsurgery.net/ forms to download a cleaning protocols form and a terminal cleaning checklist.

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