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All policies referring to cleaning should be developed with consideration of evidence-based guidelines (Sehulster & Chinn, 2003) and created in conjunction with the leadership from the department with cleaning responsibility. In many facilities, cleaning is a shared responsibility between direct patient care personnel, those who perform environmental sanitation activities, and those who reprocess equipment. Capturing assigned responsibilities in policy, training, and monitoring is key to standardizing efficient and thorough cleaning of the patient care environment.

  • Involve facility leaders for environmental cleaning and equipment reprocessing in PACU cleaning policy development.
  • All surfaces that touch multiple patients must be cleaned after each patient contact. Examples of these items include blood pressure cuffs, bed/lounge chairs, stretchers and side rails, call bells, pillows, pulse oximeter probes, monitor cables, patient transfer devices, glucometers, and over-the-bed table/bedside cabinets.
  • Surfaces in the individual patient care area should be cleaned daily or more frequently, if soiled. Examples of these items include IV pumps, patient warming machines, cardiac monitor touch pads, and thermometers.
  • Disposable wipes impregnated with hospital-approved detergent or disinfectant should be placed in key locations in the PACU. This has been a successful strategy to encourage appropriate cleaning of frequently used surfaces and multiple-patient items by direct patient care personnel.
  • Responsibility for approving cleaning products for a healthcare facility is usually accorded to the infection prevention and control committee. Usual routine hospital-approved detergents and disinfectants contain an EPA-registered disinfectant (EPA: 7 United States Code [USC] § 136 et seq.). Do not use alcohol, high-level disinfectants, or sterilants to disinfect environmental surfaces larger than a few square centimeters.
  • Quality control monitoring of surface cleaning should be incorporated into cleaning policies, and reports of monitoring results should be reported to the organization.