Hygiene in Healthcare Effective Management through Outsourcing

Risks involved in each area to achieve cleaning specifications

The requirements or specifications are decided from the time the operations and the kind of infection control parameters to be achieved are set in different departments. In association with the housekeeping agency, the department in-charge would list down the machinery, tool and chemical requirement for that department.

Dealing with attrition of trained staff

Attrition is a fact that is unavoidable. Staff rotation within an organisation or outside of it is inevitable. Employees switch jobs regularly for better prospects. This is a continuous cycle. Nonetheless, training is important and a continuous training approach should be in place in any organisation. Most often staff from one particular industry tends to stick to the same industry albeit in different companies. Continuous training programmes ensure that the staff are well trained and well equipped to handle their jobs.

It is important to maintain employee loyalty and ensure effective work output. This is possible through regular appreciation in front of peers, making them feel like a part of the organisation and imbibing a feeling of achievement at the end of the day.

What are the training requirements?

Once again there is no specific training standard for cleaning. Each organisation sets and follows its own training – which could cause confusion when the employees switch employers. Third party accreditation is important to cut out this confusion.

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Any area which is not the core area should be outsourced

– Dr Akash S. Rajpal

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Continuous Medical Education is of prime importance; second, a checklist of what is expected and if that has been done and thirdly, audits. Training = Safety.

The aim of any hospital is the decrease the infection rate. The acceptable rate of infection by WHO is 2% and the aim of most hospitals is to bring their levels of infection down to 2% or less. It is also imperative to align the housekeeping staff on the vision and mission of the hospital.

It is assumed that most workers have some basic qualification, however in some cases janitorial staff is illiterate. In such cases, training should be imparted in local language with the aid of pictures or signboards. Experiential learning is by far the best form of learning. Full advantage of such learning could be drawn when a new worker is teamed up with an experienced worker in a kind of “buddy mentoring” format.

Outsourcing cleaning or employing permanent staff

Outsourcing has its benefits. Firstly, the outsourced agency has the expertise and the skills to manage the task at hand. Secondly, there is the danger of running into legal issues as far as permanent staff unions are concerned. In addition, the outsourced agency would be responsible for the resource management part – be it recruitment, training or even attrition. Thirdly, the outcome in terms of cleanliness and hygiene in healthcare are met with because of the service provider’s access to the right equipment, tools or chemicals.

There is a pressing need to set standards and parameters for hygiene in healthcare. SOPs, spot audits, internal audits, communication, training and re-training are some of the key pointers in ensuring healthcare hygiene.