What is Hospital Housekeeping?
Hospital housekeeping, also known as hospital cleaning, aims to sustain a sterile environment in all areas of the hospital by implementing high standards of cleanliness. Good hospital housekeeping practices, such as terminal cleaning of high-risk areas and routine cleaning of high-touch surfaces, can prevent the spread of hospital-acquired infections and increase patient safety.
Hospital housekeepers and hospital housekeeping officers should take advantage of mobile-ready hospital housekeeping checklists to effectively perform routine cleaning, monitor terminal cleaning, and promote consistent quality of cleanliness. This article features:
- 1) crucial areas of hospital housekeeping;
- 2) hospital housekeeping app to effectively perform routine cleaning; and
- 3) free hospital housekeeping checklists you can download, customize, and use.
Click here to download free & customizable hospital housekeeping checklists
Hospital Housekeeping Crucial Areas
Enforcing an effective hospital housekeeping program begins by classifying different hospital areas by varying need for cleaning. Hospital housekeeping officers should determine the frequency, level, and method of cleaning based on the risks a specific area poses to patients, staff, and visitors. Here are the crucial areas hospital housekeepers should take note of:
High-risk Areas
Operating rooms, intensive care units, and isolation wards require cleaning and intermediate level of disinfection once every two hours and spot cleaning as requested. Other patient care areas and facilities such as the emergency room, central sterile supply department, and renal dialysis facility entail cleaning with soap and detergent and disinfection with alcohol and aldehyde compounds. High-risk areas should be routinely monitored by the hospital administrator and evaluated by hospital housekeeping officers at least once a week.
High-touch Surfaces
All surfaces in the hospital harbor potentially pathogenic microorganisms, but high-touch surfaces in patient rooms should be prioritized to maintain high standards of cleanliness. Hospital housekeepers should identify high-touch surfaces by the type of activity involved and the frequency of contact with a contaminated surface. Bed handrails, door handles, and light switches have frequent contact with hands and should be cleaned more often than minimal contact surfaces such as walls, mirrors, and window sills.
iAuditor, the world’s most powerful inspection checklist app, can help hospital housekeepers, hospital housekeeping officers, and health and safety officers maintain high levels of environmental sanitation, reduce the opportunity for transmission of hospital-acquired infections, and increase patient safety. With the iAuditor mobile app, you can:
- ✔ Create mobile-ready hospital housekeeping checklists. Request a demo.
- ✔ Send real-time notifications of scheduled hospital housekeeping
- ✔ Capture photo evidence of cleaned patient rooms and high-touch surfaces
- ✔ Automatically generate and share hospital housekeeping reports to members of the organization. Preview sample report.
- ✔ Use for free with small teams. Unlimited reports and storage for premium accounts.
Try iAuditor Hospital Housekeeping App for Free
Top 5 Hospital Housekeeping Checklists
A hospital housekeeping checklist is used by hospital housekeepers to sustain a sterile environment in patient rooms and prevent the spread of hospital-acquired infections. This hospital housekeeping checklist has been designed to make it easier for hospital housekeepers to follow hospital housekeeping SOP such as high-touch surfaces, room zoning, and cleaning paths. With iAuditor, hospital housekeepers can easily:
- Specify the unit/department and room to be cleaned
- Check isolation status, perform hand hygiene, check for appropriate PPE, and more
- Take/attach photos of cleaned patient rooms and add annotations of high-touch surfaces
- Complete the hospital housekeeping checklist with a digital signature
- Automatically generate and share a hospital housekeeping report before leaving the room
A hospital cleaning checklist is a simple guideline followed by hospital housekeepers to standardize cleaning practices and avoid common mistakes such as double-dipping cloths, shaking mops, and more. This hospital cleaning checklist includes a sample hospital housekeeping SOP that details what hospital housekeepers should do before, during, and after cleaning different areas in the healthcare facility.
A terminal cleaning checklist is used by hospital housekeeping officers to enforce an effective hospital housekeeping program and identify training gaps among hospital housekeepers. Based on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) Environmental Checklist for Monitoring Terminal Cleaning, this terminal cleaning checklist aims to help hospital housekeeping officers indicate “cleaned”, “not cleaned”, or “not present in room” when cleaning high-touch room surfaces and specify the monitoring method used.
This hospital housekeeping checklist is based on OSHA’s Bloodborne Pathogen Standard for Contaminated Laundry to reduce exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials through soiled linen that was improperly labeled or handled. This hospital housekeeping checklist for soiled linen encompasses PPE, sharps handling, hazardous chemicals, lifting/pushing hazards, and fire hazards.
This hospital housekeeping checklist is used to ensure the completion of baseline control measures against healthcare-associated infections. Easily assess the general condition of patient rooms, hand hygiene implementation, etc., and instantly alert colleagues or superiors about non-compliant items using this hospital housekeeping checklist for infection control.
