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!

Barbara Connell, Health Facilities Management
Outpatient care continues to accelerate as public policy encourages patients with chronic diseases to get care outside of the hospital setting.

John Gnecco, Health Facilities Management
As discussed in Part 1 of this column last month, environmental services technicians often have to cope with negative perceptions and constant change, which can create a high level of stress.

Matt Poe, American Laundry News
Automation, simply put, is the use of various types of control systems to operate equipment and processes—without human interaction being necessary.

Gina Joseph, The Macomb Daily
R2D2 is undoubtedly one of the most beloved crime-fighting robots of the century, but when it comes to fighting germs, Zappy and Violet are the heroes at Henry Ford Macomb Hospital in Clinton Township.

Sweta Gupta, Infectious Disease Advisor
Using enhanced disinfection strategies in a hospital environment decreases the spread of healthcare-associated pathogens such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, vancomycin-resistant staphylococci, multidrug-resistant Acinetobacter spp, and Clostridium difficile.

Infection Control Today
According to the CDC's FluView report for the week ending Jan. 28, 2017 (week 4), flu activity continues to increase and is widespread in most of the United States.

Brian Zimmerman, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
The CDC has set the adult immunization schedule for 2017 based upon recommendations made by the agency's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices.

Infection Control Today
It’s been one year since the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Zika a public health emergency.

Lisa Martin, Forbes
If you find yourself wondering how to improve your leadership this year, you might want to take the no-buzzwords approach.

Edward Fleischman, Fortune
Millennials currently make up the largest portion of the American workforce; therefore, it is critical for companies to understand the needs of these employees.

By Walter Vernon

By Cindy Nuesslein, RN, MBA, FACHE

To acknowledge the ongoing and outstanding sustainability efforts of healthcare facilities - and environmental service departments in particular - the AHE presents the Environmental Sustainability Certificate Program. This program not only provides guidance on efficient, effective and value-added environmentally sustainable healthcare operations, but also provides it in such a way that is achievable within all budgets.

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.