Becky Parker, WDAY
Staff at the new Sanford Medical Center Fargo can say "goodbye" to carting laundry and recyclables through hospital hallways.

Eric Wicklund, mHealth Intelligence
The use of RTLS platforms is growing, as are the number of drivers pointing to its usefulness for providers and patients alike.

Jennifer Viegas, Discover News
Bed bugs favor the colors red and black, but tend to avoid green and yellow, finds new research on the parasites.

Kris Bagadia and Wayne Vaughn, Facility Care
A maintenance excellence program is a strategy of planning and assigning work, managing spare parts, performing and optimizing preventive and predictive maintenance, utilizing technologies to their fullest capacity, managing data, and tracking performance.

Jeff Light, Facility Care
Improving energy efficiency in a building doesn’t require a huge investment. Even small building energy management projects can yield big results.

joyce Frieden, MedPage Today
Healthcare and laboratory workers should use standard infection control precautions to prevent the spread of the Zika virus, the CDC and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration said in interim guidance issued Friday.

Heather Punke, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
Just one day before its scheduled public launch, CMS postponed the release of its overall hospital star ratings program to July, according to a statement from CMS.

Science Daily
The rise of antibiotic resistant bacterial pathogens is an increasingly global threat to public health.

Infection Control Today
According to this week’s FluView report, flu activity continues to decrease in the United States but remains slightly elevated.

The Muse, Forbes
Regardless of where you are—a new manager, a long-time boss or an entry-level person who’s managing an intern, you can develop new skills to do a better job (and feel more confident).

Gwen Moran, Fast Company
As one of the most unconventional U.S. presidential primary seasons in recent memory, the candidates on the stage couldn’t be more different. However, the race to secure their respective parties’ nominations holds some important lessons for business leaders.

Plan your education for 2016. Visit AHE’s brand-new 2016 ENGAGE site to learn more about educational courses, podcasts, webinars, and events.

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.

Release Date: Tuesday May 24, 2016 at 1:00 PM CST (LIVE Webinar)
Cost: Complimentary for Members; Non-members $59.00
During this webinar, participants will be exposed to the core elements of hand hygiene best practices for both the healthcare provider and support team as well as strategies to engage patients in the hand hygiene program.
Speaker: Dr. Hudson Garrett Jr., PhD, MSN, MPH, FNP, CSRN, PLNC, VA-BC, Industry Liaison, Board of Directors, Association for the Healthcare Environment

EXCHANGE 2016 will be held on September 25-28, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA. This year, EXCHANGE attendees can look forward to:
• Preconference Workshop
• CHEST Preconference Workshop
• CMIP Preconference Workshop
• Micro Sessions
• Extended Sessions
• Healthcare Marketplace

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

Developed by the Association for the Healthcare Environment and Kimberly-Clark Professional, the Heart of Healthcare Award recognizes and honors outstanding frontline environmental services technicians making a contribution to support safety initiatives and reduction and prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs). The program purpose is to elevate the critical role that frontline environmental services technicians play in the care of patients and the healthcare environment. Step up for someone you know is doing an outstanding job in environmental services by nominating him or her today!
Applications Due June 17, 2016.

Joe Tye, EXPLORE magazine

Brenda Marks, BN, MBA, Explore magazine