Heather Punke, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
Though the intention of patient satisfaction surveys may be altruistic, the focus on patient satisfaction and the surveys designed to measure it could actually lead to a decrease in care quality and an increase in costs, according to recent report from The Hastings Center.

Max Green, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
The Cleaning and Disinfecting in Healthcare Working Group of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health, comprised of more than 40 members from four countries, has reviewed current knowledge of health care-associated infections and developed an integrated framework to minimize harmful cleaning and disinfecting exposures to health care workers without reducing the effectiveness of infection prevention.

CleanLink
Bathroom air can contain bacteria and viruses. These harmful particles can be thrown into the air from the toilet bowl as you flush.

Pest Control Technology via NPR
Lack of pesticide use in these facilities, combined with a significant amount of belongings that are often moved, have led to a rise in bed bugs in these accounts.

CleanLink
As the weather gets warmer, expect to see more floors in commercial settings being stripped and refinished. This is invariably true in educational facilities but has become somewhat of a tradition in all types of locations, from offices and health care locations to retail outlets.

Caroline Chen & Doni Bloomfield, Bloomberg Business
Life-threatening complications from bacterial infections are on the rise among hospital patients, increasing at a double-digit rate as the population ages and costing U.S. health-care programs billions of dollars a year.

Sheila F. Cahnman, Healthcare Design
Are health care-associated infections driven not only by existing harmful pathogens but by the absence of helpful species?

Jeff Ferenc, Health Facilities Management
Sustainability’s role in helping hospitals achieve the triple aim was a big theme at this year’s conference.

Kristin D. Zeit, Healthcare Design
The application of Lean thinking can have a significant effect on many aspects of health care design, and infection control—a top priority in the industry right now—is no exception.

Elizabeth Whitman, International Business Times
Efforts to use wet wipes to clean hospital surfaces appear to be backfiring, a study found.

Shannon Barnet, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
Health care workers improved their hand-washing technique by using an automated hand hygiene training system in one study published in the American Journal of Infection Control.

Healio Infectious Disease News
A more integrated approach is needed to prevent infection and occupational illness from cleaning agents in hospitals and other health care settings, according to members of the Cleaning and Disinfecting in Healthcare Working Group of the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health.

Andre Lavoie, Entrepreneur
A good leader values employee happiness. A great leader values the employee engagement that results from that happiness. That is what employee engagement is, after all – the degree to which an employee’s feelings about their job (and boss) influences their willingness to learn and perform at work.

Joseph R. Weintraub & James M. Hunt, Harvard Business Review
There are managers who coach and managers who don’t. Leaders in the latter category are not necessarily bad managers, but they are neglecting an effective tool to develop talent.

New Technologies for Surface Cleaning and Disinfection - UV Light
Thursday, June 18
The use of ultraviolet (UV) light technology is rapidly becoming one of the most effective adjunct cleaning technologies in the fight against health care associated infections. Scientists and engineers are continuing to develop this technology as a means to combat pathogens such as MRSA, Ebola, and C-diff in health care facilities. This webinar will explore:

1. How UV light technology is being used as a protocol for surface decontamination;
2. Use guidelines that are currently being developed; and
3. How environmental services leaders can begin to build a business case for the technology.

New this year includes a Certified Healthcare Environmental Services Technician Workshop, Express Labs, and exciting pre-conference events. Open registration is available until July 31, 2015.

Take part in one of AHE's Train the Trainer workshops and return to your facility prepared to train your environmental services staff to become Certified Healthcare Environmental Service Technicians, CHEST... and start making significant contributions to the patient experience of care, the facility, the profession, and the community!