In this and the next Daily Tip, I will give you more of the 13 Strategies for Effective Cleaning and Disinfection of C-diff Patient’s Room (which I started in my last tip). 

Here are the next 4 strategies (some original with me and others borrowed from “best practices”) that could be adopted by every hospital treating patients with this potentially deadly pathogen:

5. At least one hospital has been able to control the spread of C. diff by implementing a team of well-trained and dedicated ES workers who perform daily and terminal cleaning of all isolated patient’s room. 

6. The frequency of cleaning and disinfecting isolated patient’s room, touch-points should be increased to twice daily for best results. 

7. Use high-denier microfiber wipers and mops. The better the microfiber product, the better the spore removal (catches spores but does not release them onto other surfaces). Infection prevention textiles (i.e., microfiber) used by ES should be washed according to published CDC guidelines (hot wash + bleach + high temp dry); people are dying from hospital associated C. diff and ES infection prevention textiles should be processed in the same manner as patient-use textiles. 

8. The hospital should educate family members and visitors to adhere to the isolation precautions and use the disposable wipes throughout their stay or visit.

J. Darrel Hicks, REH, CHESP, is the author of "Infection Control For Dummies" and has over 30 years of experience in the jan/san industry. Hicks has served as past president of IEHA and remains an active member of ASHES. He can be reached at through his website at www.darrelhicks.com or by email at darrel@darrelhicks.com.

 


posted on 2/6/2014