Cleanliness in the Clinic
You know, I might not be the cleanest guy around the house. Yes, I admit that sometimes I leave dirty clothes on the bedroom floor, hang my jacket on the dining room chair, and maybe let the garbage can get FULL before I empty it. When company is coming though, the whole house gets a good cleaning, and I actually hang my coat in the closet!
No, I'm not a clean freak but I believe that we should think of cleanliness in the clinic the same way we think of it at home. Yes, the occasional mess can pile up due to time limitations. However, in the clinic setting we have company every day! Now I'm not suggesting your clinic needs a total cleaning every day, but for most of the shared equipment there should be a routine schedule established.
How many times have you seen a patient sneeze or wipe their nose then continue to use a piece of equipment? I wouldn't want to use that piece of equipment next, and I'm sure your patients, if they knew, wouldn't want to be next to use it either.
What I'm referring to here is a problem created due to PPS. Since we are only paid when treating patients, there is no time allotted for the necessary cleaning that needs to be done around the clinic. When routine cleaning tasks get put off, I believe that is an indication of what we think of our clients. Just as I wouldn't want company to come to my house when it's a mess, I have a tough time bringing patients to the clinic when it's not clean.
Contact precautions aside, germs are microscopic and just because you can't see them doesn't mean they are not there. This point was proven to me many years ago while working in a hospital. The lab there brought in two petri dishes and had two different employees stick their thumb in the gel after following these instructions. One employee was asked to thoroughly wash their hands and then only touch the doorknob of the restroom. The other employee, after washing their hands, was asked to touch several pieces of equipment around the clinic. These were objects that were used many times daily, but had been cleaned recently. After two days, the petri dishes were brought back for us to see the growth. Both had a significant growth of mold in them, but the latter dish had so much growth in it you couldn't see the gel anymore!
Cross contamination is a real issue. Germs are spread from one person to another through several means, either airborne, from personal contact, or from shared items. How many times have you seen a bug sweep through a wing, afflicting many of the residents? This usually occurs due to improper hand washing and failure to clean and disinfect common surfaces.
In many clinics there is staff assigned to keep up the routine housekeeping tasks. However, their job usually only covers the major areas such as mopping the floor, emptying trash, and dusting surfaces. So what happens to that piece of exercise band that almost everyone uses? I'm sure that it is contaminated with many germs, and even though that doesn't mean everyone who touches it will get sick, it sure increases the risk.
My "thought" here is to keep all of this in mind as you work around your clinic. Spend an extra minute or two each day to clean some of the equipment that gets handled often. Establish a schedule with every employee responsible for some part of the routine cleaning. A clinic doesn't need to be immaculate, but clean is a good thing.
Until next time, hope all your thoughts are good,
Tim