Shedding Light on Environmental Hygiene
Recent studies show the environment to be a contributing factor to the spread of pathogens to patients, and should be an area of focus in a complete infection prevention program.
A Programmatic Approach to
Improvements in Environmental Hygiene:
A Clinical Literature Review 
Ecolab's Clinical Literature Review helps support the key concepts featured above in a programmatic approach to improvements in Environmental Hygiene.
Ecolab's EnCompass™ Programs
Help Meet CDC Recommendations for
Evaluating Environmental Cleaning
The new CDC Toolkit: Options for Evaluating Environmental Cleaning, acknowledges the environment’s role in the spread of infections, and the need to take preventative action to continuously evaluate and improve environmental cleaning to reduce associated risks.
For more information about the CDC Toolkit: Options for Evaluating Environmental Cleaning, visit http:/www.cdc.gov/HAI/toolkits/Evaluating-Environmental-Cleaning.html.
The following is an overview of the CDC recommendations for evaluating environmental cleaning and the corresponding Ecolab programs that help meet these recommendations.
| CDC Toolkit Recommendations | EnCompass™ Monitoring Program | EnCompass™ Program | |
|---|---|---|---|
|
TRAINING |
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| Level I & II | Structured education of ES staff, including baseline evaluation of thoroughness of cleaning and evaluation of competency. | On-site training on DAZO® Monitoring Process. | On-site training on DAZO® Monitoring Process and Cleaning Process |
|
MONITORING |
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| Level I & II |
Regular, on-going, structured monitoring of the program will be performed and documented. Instructions for evaluating the cleaning of objects in the patient zone. Environmental checklist for monitoring erminal cleaning. |
DAZO® Fluorescent Marking Gel iPod Touch hand held data collection tool (includes App that incorporates all CDC identified high touchpoints in the patient zone DAZO® Environmental Hygiene Monitoring Instructions |
DAZO® Fluorescent Marking Gel iPod Touch hand held data collection tool (includes App that incorporates all CDC identified high touchpoints in the patient zone DAZO® Environmental Hygiene Monitoring Instructions |
| Level II | Objective assessment of terminal room thoroughness of disinfection cleaning using objective monitoring methods. | ||
|
REPORTING |
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| Level I | Results are a standing agenda item for the Infection Control Committee (ICC) or Quality Committee. |
Quarterly reports that are easy to read, meaningful and generated by Ecolab for reporting to ICC and hospital leadership. Dashboard report with high-level summary of period findings. Reports including "Percentage of High Touch Objects Cleaned" by overall patient room, bathroom and total room. |
Quarterly reports that are easy to read, meaningful and generated by Ecolab for reporting to ICC and hospital leadership. Dashboard report with high-level summary of period findings. Reports including "Percentage of High Touch Objects Cleaned" by overall patient room, bathroom and total room. |
| Level II | Results are reported to facility leadership. | ||
|
ADDITIONAL OFFERINGS |
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Microfiber cloths/Mops, Carts, Cleaning Tools Chemistry: disinfectant, floor cleaner, etc. |
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For more information about Ecolab's Environmental Hygiene Programs, click here.
