For the health, safety, and comfort of patients and staff medical
offices must be keep clean. Some medical offices handle the cleaning
chore themselves while others choose to outsource the task and leave the
cleaning to professionals. Hiring a professional office cleaning
service is often a better idea because they are familiar with the
requirements and have the right tools to keep the office clean up to
appropriate standards.
OSHA (Occupational Health and Safety Administration) was created by
the United States Department of Labor to provide standards and
guidelines designed to protect employee and patient health and safety in
many workplaces, including medical offices. Because the cleanliness of
a medical office is an area of potential risk, it is monitored by
OSHA. Any commercial cleaning company that is hired for the task should
be familiar with the requirements set up by OSHA and should be able to
meet these standards in the janitorial service they provide.
Cleaning vendors who include medical offices as part of their
clientele have to ensure that their cleaning schedules include cleaning
all patient exam rooms, laboratories, surgical areas, bathrooms, office
spaces, hallways and waiting areas. In addition, cleaning staff must
correctly handle furniture, carts, surgical drapes, gowns, bed linens,
work surfaces and containers, and waste products. Spills and exposure
to chemicals are also common cleaning needs in medical offices and OSHA
guidelines are to be posted and employees must be trained about any
potential hazards that may exist.
Approved cleaners and decontaminates must be used because of OSHA
standards. The best cleaning companies choose hospital grade
disinfectant chemicals in order to provide maximum decontamination. The
EPA (Environmental Protection Agency) has registered antimicrobial
products to protect against the spread of infection that can be used.
The EPA has approved disinfectants such as diluted bleach solutions,
tuberculocides, sterilants and other products registered against
HIV/HBV. All equipment in a medical office should be sterilized with a
high level disinfectant or sterilant.
Along with standard cleaning and disinfection standards, other
circumstances exist in medical offices that are not standard in all
office cleaning jobs. Used syringes must be kept in specially designed
leak and puncture poof containers which remain closed. When
transporting laundry bags, they should be held away from the body and
not squeezed to avoid punctures from needles that may have been
discarded incorrectly. When laundry is contaminated, it must be handled
with minimum agitation necessary and should always be bagged in the
spot where it was used. Waste containers, laundry, or medical equipment
that is contaminated must be properly labeled to maintain appropriate
sanitary conditions.
These are only a sampling of the considerations that must be handled
by medical office staff and any janitorial service that handles cleaning
of the medical office. Be sure that any cleaning company that is hired
is fully aware of the necessary requirements and standards involved in
medical office cleaning before trusting them to get the job done. The
safety and health of patients and staff is a major piece of a successful
medical office and should not be overlooked, source.
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