The Critical Role of Clean Hospitals in Infection Control: Why You Should Join the Initiative

Clean Hospitals Day 2024

In modern health care, infection control and prevention are at the heart of patient care. Every healthcare professional understands the importance of stringent measures to prevent health care-associated infections (HAIs) and reduce antimicrobial resistance. Yet, one crucial area often remains overlooked: hospital environmental hygiene. This critical facet of infection prevention profoundly impacts patient safety and the well-being of health care workers and the broader community.

Clean Hospitals, an International Centre of Excellence in Public Health, is dedicated to addressing this gap by promoting high standards of hospital environmental hygiene. Here is why infection control and prevention personnel need to know about Clean Hospitals and participate in the global awareness campaign, Clean Hospitals Day.

“It's essential to remember that health care environmental hygiene encompasses both human and technical elements. Both are vital for a robust environmental hygiene program, and neither should be undervalued,” Alexandra Peters, PhD, Clean Hospitals scientific lead and an Infection Control Today’s Editorial Advisory Board Member.

What Is Clean Hospitals?

Clean Hospitals is an international initiative focused on improving health care environmental hygiene to safeguard patients, health care workers, and the environment. Rooted in public health excellence, Clean Hospitals takes a transdisciplinary approach to promoting a hygienic environment in health care settings. The organization brings together industry, academia, hospitals, governmental bodies, and key stakeholders to collaborate and raise industry standards in hospital hygiene.

The core values of Clean Hospitals are integrity, sharing, transparency, and respect. These values guide their actions and commitment to improving patient safety and protecting health care workers. By elevating hospital hygiene standards worldwide, Clean Hospitals aims to reduce the spread of infections, enhance safety, and protect public health.

“However, only talking about environmental hygiene to other experts about the challenges is not enough,” Didier Pittet, PhD, the hospital epidemiologist and director of the infection control programme and World Health Organization Collaborating Centre on Patient Safety, told ICT® in 2022. “We need to sensitize [hospitals] to the importance of health care environmental hygiene. There are too many hospitals around the world that I have visited where it's just left like this: either it's a private company will [do the cleaning], and sometimes that [should be] a professional’s work. Cleaning a hospital is not cleaning a hotel [because] patients are coming to the hospitals. Environmental protection in a hotel or at home has nothing to do with environmental protection in a hospital or in a long-term care facility, even where many people are living today. So, this is an important problem. And we want to address it with my friends and colleagues from around the world [at the conference]. Again, in a public/private/partnership and academic action that we all want to carry over.”

The Importance of Hospital Environmental Hygiene

Although often underfunded and understudied, hospital environmental hygiene is crucial in preventing HAIs and combating antimicrobial resistance. Numerous studies have shown that a clean hospital environment reduces infection rates. Effective hygiene practices can significantly lower the risk of pathogen transmission from surfaces and instruments to air and water quality. This is vital for patient care, staff safety, and public health.

Moreover, hospital hygiene has a broader impact beyond the hospital walls. Proper waste management, air quality control, and sustainable practices also benefit the surrounding community and the environment. Clean Hospitals recognizes this and strives to make healthcare facilities safer and more sustainable through evidence-based practices.

“Everyone is a puzzle, and environmental hygiene is a puzzle,” Pittet, who works at the University of Geneva Hospitals & Faculty of Medicine in Geneva, Switzerland, told ICT. “We need to emphasize its importance to people.”

Clean Hospitals' Mission and Vision

The mission of Clean Hospitals is to increase awareness and lead a global shift in environmental hygiene culture. This includes developing and promoting best practices for hospital hygiene, advocating for sustainable products and services, and enhancing corporate social responsibility within the health care industry. Clean Hospitals connects stakeholders and experts worldwide, aiming to raise standards and bring visibility to the often-overlooked role of environmental hygiene in patient care.

Clean Hospitals' ultimate vision is to become the leading voice in health care environmental hygiene, making hospitals cleaner, safer, and more sustainable. Through its work, the organization seeks to protect patients, health care workers, and the environment by reducing HAIs and antimicrobial resistance.

Clean Hospitals Day: A Call to Action

Clean Hospitals Day, launched in 2019, is a global campaign to raise awareness of the importance of health care environmental hygiene. This awareness day celebrates the hard work and dedication of environmental service workers, hospital management, healthcare workers, and partners who produce the products, education, and technologies essential to maintaining a clean health care environment.

Clean Hospitals Day aims to increase global visibility and recognition of health care environmental hygiene’s role in patient safety. It is a call to action for infection control and prevention personnel to join Clean Hospitals in celebrating and empowering those who work tirelessly to improve hospital hygiene every day.

Clean Hospitals Day is for everyone involved in hospital hygiene, from environmental service workers to health care providers and management. It is also for patients most vulnerable to infections resulting from poor hospital hygiene. By participating in this campaign, health care workers can help raise awareness of the importance of hospital hygiene and promote better practices within their institutions.

Why Infection Control Personnel Should Join Clean Hospitals

As infection control and prevention personnel, you safeguard patients and healthcare workers from infections. Clean Hospitals provides a unique opportunity to enhance infection prevention by focusing on environmental hygiene. Here are several reasons why you should consider joining Clean Hospitals:

1. Collaborate with global experts: Clean Hospitals connects you with leading experts and stakeholders worldwide. This network allows you to share knowledge, exchange best practices, and stay updated on the latest research and innovations in hospital hygiene.
2. Access to cutting-edge tools and resources: Clean Hospitals offers valuable tools, such as the Healthcare Environmental Hygiene Self-Assessment Framework (HEHSAF). This internationally validated tool helps healthcare facilities identify areas for improvement in their hygiene programs, and benchmarks progress over time. Infection control personnel can use these resources to enhance their environmental hygiene protocols and better protect patients and staff.
3. Improve patient and staff safety: A clean hospital environment reduces the risk of HAIs and protects health care workers from infections. By aligning with Clean Hospitals' goals and standards, infection control personnel can impact patient and staff safety, leading to better health outcomes.
4. Promote sustainability: Clean Hospitals champions sustainability in healthcare environmental hygiene. From waste management to air and water control, the organization advocates for practices that protect hospital staff, patients, and the environment. Infection control personnel can be crucial in promoting these sustainable practices within their facilities.
5. Contribute to global health: Participating in Clean Hospitals contributes to a global effort to reduce HAIs and antimicrobial resistance. These are pressing public health challenges that require coordinated international action. Infection control personnel are essential to this effort, and Clean Hospitals provides the platform for making a difference on a global scale.

Join the Movement: Celebrate Clean Hospitals Day 2024

Clean Hospitals Day 2024 is an opportunity for infection control and prevention personnel to engage in this global campaign and promote the importance of environmental hygiene in health care settings. You can help raise awareness by downloading campaign materials, sharing them with your colleagues, and promoting better hygiene practices in your institution.

Clean Hospitals Day annually centers around a designated theme, and this year, our focus is on "The 6 Technical Domains of Healthcare Environmental Hygiene." These domains encompass surfaces, air control, water control, device reprocessing and sterilization, laundry, and waste management. It is imperative to recognize that these domains are not only essential but also serve as the foundation for upholding a secure and hygienic health care environment.

“Understanding the 6 technical domains of environmental hygiene is key to developing an improvement strategy for your hospital’s environmental hygiene program,” Peters told ICT.

From social media photo frames and posters to video conferencing backgrounds and fact sheets, Clean Hospitals offers a variety of resources to help you spread the message. By participating in Clean Hospitals Day, you are celebrating the work of environmental service workers and contributing to the global effort to improve patient safety through better hospital hygiene.

Conclusion

Clean Hospitals is at the forefront of a global movement to improve health care environmental hygiene and reduce HAIs. Infection control and prevention personnel have a vital role to play in this effort. By joining Clean Hospitals and participating in Clean Hospitals Day, you can help raise awareness of the importance of hospital hygiene, promote best practices, and contribute to a healthier, safer health care environment for patients, staff, and the community.