How Often A Medical Centre Should Be Cleaned?

Exploring The Ideal Frequency Of Medical Centre Cleaning

Ever wondered how healthcare facilities manage to stave off infection among patients and staff? The frequency of cleaning at least daily in your medical centre. The frequency of medical centre cleaning reduces infections. The answer is rigorous cleaning and disinfection! Healthcare facilities such as:

• Hospitals
• Doctor’s clinics
• Diagnostic centres
• Dialysis centres
• Nursing homes
• Health centres

…and so on are frequented by sick people. Many of these people are suffering from contagious diseases that spread through touch, air, and bodily fluids. Take COVID-19 for example.

That’s why you must know how frequency of medical centre cleaning to avoid the spread of diseases.

Do You Know How Often A Medical Centre Should Be Cleaned?

In the medical sector, there are set SOPs or standard operating procedures for cleaning different sections of a facility. These SOPs typically dictate how often the medical centre will be cleaned.

If you don’t have a set SOP in place, you need to build one based on careful considerations. The frequency of medical centre cleaning depends on:

• The type of facility it is
• The level of daily traffic it receives
• The type of diseases or patients it deals with

…and many other factors. We will discuss more on that later.

For now, all you need to know is that cleaning frequencies and requirements are different for each medical facility. As an example, let’s discuss the cleaning frequency at a hospital.

Factors That Determine The Frequency Of Medical Centre Cleaning

We touched on this briefly above. Several factors influence the frequency of cleaning at a medical facility. And each facility has unique cleaning requirements.

That is why you cannot find a one-size-fits-all solution for this. You need to consider the following aspects to determine the cleaning frequency for your medical centre.

Direct Patient Contact

All surfaces that patients frequently touch require frequent cleaning and disinfection. This form of environment cleaning is necessary to reduce incidents of hospital-acquired infections. It also helps to break the chain of infection.

Type And Orientation Of Surface

Gram-positive bacteria thrive in dry conditions. Fungi and gram-negative bacteria, on the other hand, favours moist environments. Horizontal surfaces tend to catch more dust and microbes. That is why they require more frequent cleaning.

Frequency And Degree of Physical Contact

We all know about high-touch and low-touch surfaces. The former refers to things like doorknobs, light switches, elevator buttons, and so on. These surfaces are highly likely to spread germs from person to person. So, they need to be cleaned and sanitized frequently.

Low-touch surfaces such as ceilings and walls are not touched as much. So, they require less frequent cleaning. However, if a low-touch surface is visibly soiled, you need to take care of it immediately.

Potential Contamination

Different surfaces within a healthcare facility have varying probabilities of contamination. Bodily fluids and blood are the major causes of contamination. Based on this, medical centres categorise surfaces as:

Heavy Contamination

Surfaces and equipment with the highest probability of contamination:

• Labour rooms
• Cardiac catheterisation laboratory
• Autopsy room
• Haemodialysis unit
• Burn unit
• Emergency room (ER)

Moderate Contamination

Surfaces and equipment with routine level of contamination:

• Patient rooms
• Restrooms
• Bedsheets

Light Contamination

Areas with the probability of light contamination:

• Lounges
• Waiting rooms
• Libraries
• Offices
• General traffic areas

These are the most critical factors that determine the frequency of cleaning. Medical center cleaning services in Sydney take these into account when developing cleaning checklists.

Critical Cleaning Tasks To perform In Medical Cleaning

Professional cleaners adhere to strict protocols when cleaning medical facilities. They use various medical cleaning procedures to achieve a high level of cleaning. A few crucial medical cleaning tasks are:

Terminal Cleaning

It involves deep cleaning the patient’s room after the patient has passed away or been discharged. Thorough cleaning and disinfection removes all residual contaminants. Terminal cleaning is necessary to prevent infecting other patients who will inhabit the room next.

Operating Room Cleaning

It involves sterilising operating rooms after every procedure. Operating rooms are high-risk zones. So, they need the utmost attention in terms of cleaning and disinfection. It requires manual cleaning and the use of specialised equipment.

Isolation Room Cleaning

Isolation rooms are where patients with infections are treated. Isolation rooms prevent the spread of infection. These rooms require a high level of cleaning and disinfection.

Medical Equipment Cleaning

Medical equipment such as stethoscopes and ultrasound machines need cleaning and disinfection after each use. This is done to avoid spreading diseases from one patient to another.

Environmental Cleaning

We have already talked about environmental cleaning and how crucial it is for the health and safety of patients and medical staff. It involves thoroughly and regularly cleaning and disinfecting the building. Cleaning company in Sydney provide services such as:

• Window cleaning
• Floor cleaning
• High and low-touch surface cleaning and disinfection
• Deep cleaning
• Mattress cleaning
• Pest control
• Waste management

With these, you should have a fairly good idea of the ideal frequency of medical cleaning. If you are looking for a specialised medical cleaning company in Sydney, don’t forget to check out KV Cleaning.