Jamie Morgan, Health Facilities Management
A poll on Ebola preparedness from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) shows that U.S. health care infection preventionists feel more prepared to confront Ebola compared with last year.

Healthcare Facilities Today
Practice Greenhealth report said that diverting 92,205 tons of waste from landfills through recycling saved nearly $4 million in one year, according to an article on the Infection Control Today website.

Bob Kehoe, Health Facilities Management
Hospital environmental services (ES) teams are making significant progress in making operations more efficient, cutting costs, reducing waste streams, and implementing environmentally friendly cleaning products. Nevertheless, significant challenges are blocking ES teams from making greater progress on sustainability.

Lola Butcher, H&HN
In a report called "The Patient-to-Consumer Revolution," the authors mentioned Apple 19 times in 37 pages. Amazon got seven props; FitBit got eight; and WebMD, four.

Susan Morse, Healthcare Finance
Because hospital-acquired infections are a common complication and extend inpatient stays, hospitals actually save money by building costly, single-patient rooms, according to a new study by Cornell University.

Charles Gilbert and Meg Whynot-Young, Facility Care
Three months before the Legionnaires’ outbreak in the Bronx, James Rouse’s family and doctors were sure that the 52-year-old music teacher was going to recover from his recent illness. He had been suffering from a slight fever and general malaise and was subsequently admitted to Beth Israel Medical Center in the Bronx. He died one week later.

Healthcare Facilities Today
Contaminated floors can spread potentially harmful germs and bacteria, according to an article on the McKnights website. Effective cleaning is the best way to keep floors hygienic.

Shannon Barnet, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
Clostridium difficile infection is a significant concern for health care institutions, and it may be difficult to identify the best elements for a management and treatment program, according to a study in the Journal of Clinical Pharmacy and Therapeutics.

Infection Control Today
New research from the University of Southampton has found that copper can effectively help to prevent the spread of respiratory viruses, which are linked to severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).

PDI Healthcare, Health Facilities Management
Michigan health system demonstrates that partnership between infection prevention and environmental services improves efficiency of system-wide cleaning and disinfection.

Jack Zenger and Joseph Folkman, Harvard Business Review
The Stanford Graduate School of Business asked the members of its Advisory Council which skills were most important for their MBA students to learn. The most frequent answer was self-awareness – possessing an accurate view of your skills, abilities, and shortcomings, as well as understanding how other people perceive your behavior.

Gwen Moran, Fast Company
When it comes to managing employees, striking the balance between hands-on and micromanaging can be tough. After all, you want to be sure that employees "get it" and that the work is being done well. What’s the harm in making sure?

November 16 – December 20
This facilitated online course is for healthcare environmental services and textile care professionals. The course provides an introduction and overview of key linen management issues such as linen utilization, abuse and loss management, infection prevention in textiles (including a discussion focused on the science of antimicrobial textiles), effective laundry management options and operations, OSHA standards, and HLAC accreditation standards.

Continuing Professional Education Credits: At the end of this course you will receive four (5) continuing professional education (CPE) credits towards your CHESP renewal.

Cost: AHE Members: FREE; Non-Members: $179

November 19
This webinar will focus on the importance of quality control to the environmental services team along with strategies to ensure you are capturing meaningful statistics in an effort to be "proactive" rather than "reactive" regarding deficiencies in your environment.

Cost: AHE Members: Free; Non-Members: $59

October 08 – November 20, 2015
AHE invites those interested in presenting at its EXCHANGE 2016 to submit a proposal for review by the Conference Planning Committee.

Participate for your chance to win an iPad Air!
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.

If interested in contributing to EXPLORE by authoring a best-practices article, email Heather Williams, EXPLORE editor, for more information. The magazine covers all aspects relevant to health care environmental services professionals.

Paul Picciurro, CHESP
Same old, same old, over and over again. Environmental services leaders are required to train their staff on cleaning procedures, safety topics and human resources policies. Teaching the same topics year after year gets flat out boring—even for the leaders!

Michael Lee Stallard
The best culture in a health care organization is a "connection culture." "Connection" is defined as a bond based on shared identity, empathy, and understanding that moves individuals toward group-centered membership.