Make yourself indispensable and advance your career! Plan your education for 2017. Visit AHE’s brand-new 2017 ENGAGE site to learn more about educational courses, podcasts, webinars, and events. And make sure to check out AHE's new EXPRESS Learning Courses. EXPRESS is a mobile learning platform that offers educational podcasts delivered by environmental services and infection prevention thought leaders. You asked for learning opportunities that require less of a time commitment and we delivered!

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!

Anuja Vaidya, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
A new study, published in BMC Infectious Diseases, examines the efficacy of different approaches for cleaning environmental surfaces to prevent contact transmission of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and other hospital-acquired infections.

Jamie Morgan, Health Facilities Management
The Joint Commission has published its 2017 Survey and Review Process Activity Guides. The guides detail changes that affect hospital, critical access hospital and other accreditation programs.

Bill Brooks, American Laundry News
When it comes to on-premises laundry (OPL) operations, property and laundry room managers are always looking to maximize throughput and quality while reducing costs associated with labor, linen and utilities.

Nick Mordowanec, C&G Newspapers
It’s been more than 50 years since Rosie the robot maid became a household name on "The Jetsons," as well as a predictor of what to expect in the future.

Infection Control Today
According to the CDC's FluView report for the week ending Jan. 21, 2017 (week 3), flu activity continues to increase in the United States.

Infection Control Today
The Veterans Health Administration (VHA) reduced inpatient antibiotic use by 12 percent and decreased use of broad-spectrum antibiotics through a multi-year, system-wide antimicrobial stewardship initiative, according to a study published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

Healthcare Facilities Today
Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus, Ohio, saw hand-hygiene compliance improve after a safety stand-down, according to an article on the Advance Healthcare website.

Heather Punke, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
In a study of identical twins with different sleep cycles, researchers found the twin that got less sleep had a depressed immune system, according to coverage from UW Health Sciences News Beat.

Jared Lafitte, Forbes
Leadership is not defined by a title or a position, a record of experience or an accumulation of knowledge.

Daniel Rodic, CNBC
The first football game I ever watched was the 2001 Super Bowl victory by the New England Patriots over the best team in the league that year, the St. Louis Rams.

By Carrie Schuster

By Carl Solomon Sr., MBA, FAHE, CHESP

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.

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.