We need YOU! AHE is gathering input from environmental services departments across the country to identify baseline staffing productivity standards. The results of this data gathering will be used in building staffing models and providing metrics for environmental services directors. You can be a key player in identifying and establishing these important staffing criteria for our industry.

AHE has started this initiative to encourage professionals in the field to begin, or continue to refer to the departments and the personnel caring for the healthcare environment as environmental services professionals rather than as housekeepers, janitors and custodians. The staff and management teams responsible for maintaining the clinical environment of care require different skills and competencies from those needed in the commercial cleaning and general maintenance industry and it's time we address this critical distinction.

Please help us redefine healthcare environmental services!

American Laundry News
"What ideas do you have for sorting and arranging product throughout the operation in order to be most efficient—and effective?"

Jamie Morgan, Health Facilities Management
According to the Agency for Health Research and Quality, 700,000 to 1 million people fall in U.S. hospitals each year.

Genevieve Diesing, Health Facilities Management
When it comes to adopting a culture of innovation at your hospital, you needn’t let a lack of financial resources hold you back.

Merriell Moyer, Lebanon Daily News
WellSpan Good Samaritan Hospital’s housekeeping and laundry staff was recently recognized for the charity work they do through the hospital.

Contagion Live
The Zika virus has wreaked havoc on much of the Southern Hemisphere, and while the jury is still out on some methods to eradicate the virus, it continues to reveal new and unsettling facets of itself to researchers who are studying it.

Heather Punke, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
Roughly 60 percent of U.S. antibiotic use in humans is received in outpatient settings, according to the CDC, making that care setting critically important in the fight against antibiotic resistance.

Infection Control Today
According to the CDC's FluView report for the week ending Nov. 5, 2016, flu activity is low overall in the continental United States. Influenza A (H3) viruses were most commonly reported during week 44.

Brian Zimmerman, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
In the era of emerging pathogens and value-based care, compliance with infection prevention programs is crucial for both the health of patients and the fiscal health of a hospital.

Michael Henman, business.com
We often associate leadership with qualities we consider extroverted -- public speaking, the ability to connect with everyone and anyone, the power to influence, being bold and action-oriented.

Maynard Webb, Forbes
It’s bad enough when you have bad news, but bungling how you deliver it can make it even worse.

By Mitch Birchfield

An interview with Scott Thornton, CHESP, T-CHEST

Make yourself indispensable and advance your career! Plan your education for 2016. Visit AHE’s 2016 ENGAGE site to learn more about educational courses, podcasts, webinars, and events.

The AHE Seal of Review and Recognition Program is designed to be a comprehensive review and formalized recognition process aimed at assisting healthcare professionals in selecting training and in-service programs that promote quality, safety and the most favorable outcomes for the healthcare environment and its related disciplines.