A Comprehensive Hospital Cleaning Checklist to Follow 

At the time of cleaning a hospital, you can’t afford to make any mistakes. If you do, it can result in a major healthcare hazard. To ensure that you don’t make any such mistakes, it is important to follow a hospital cleaning checklist at all times. Here’s one such checklist that you can follow at the time of cleaning a hospital.

Start off with patient rooms 

Patient rooms are usually ground zero in the battle against healthcare-associated infections. That’s why you should focus more on it during hospital sanitation. When it comes to patient room cleaning, you should focus on: 

• All high-touch surfaces
• Bed rails and call buttons 
• Over-bed tables
• Remote controls
• Walls and floors 

Make sure that you pay extra attention to the restroom facilities during healthcare facility cleaning. It will ensure proper sanitisation and replacement of essential supplies.

Operating room sterilisation

Operating rooms at a hospital demand the highest level of cleanliness and sterility at all times. That’s why your checklist for the operating room should be a detailed document. It should detail every aspect of the room’s preparation. 

For example, your cleaning checklist must include proper procedures for cleaning and disinfecting all surgical equipment. Then you need to outline how to clean and disinfect both surfaces and instruments. There needs to be proper protocols for handling and disposing of medical waste in place. Such medical centre disinfection procedures can ensure the highest level of safety for both staff and patients. 

High-touch surface cleaning 

With high-touch surface cleaning, you can break the chain of transmission in a healthcare facility. That’s because high-touch surfaces are usually responsible for the transmission of pathogens. Your cleaning checklist should focus more on using appropriate infection control measures for all such areas. 

Some of the best examples of high-touch surfaces in your hospital include door handles and handrails. You must also focus on often-ignored areas such as countertops and elevator buttons. Give more attention to the high-touch areas on surfaces such as cafeterias, waiting rooms, and public restrooms. This is where you should increase the frequency of cleaning such overly crowded areas.

Medical equipment sanitisation 

Ensuring safe and reliable medical equipment would play an important role in patient care. This is where you need to focus more on their cleanliness. In your cleaning checklist, you will need to focus on proper sanitisation of all medical equipment. They include monitoring devices, diagnostic tools, and even therapeutic equipment.

At the time of cleaning medical equipment, you should always adhere to manufacturer guidelines. Along with that, you must also use approved cleaning solutions. Then you can maintain the integrity and efficacy of equipment as well.

Don’t ignore restroom hygiene 

Restrooms are among the high-traffic areas of your hospital. That’s why you need to pay extra attention to their cleaning and maintenance. Your cleaning checklist should detail protocols for sanitising the toilets, sinks, and countertops. Along with that, include appropriate methods for cleaning restroom floors as well.

Cleaning the restrooms would not just be enough. You will also need to pay attention to restocking essential supplies. They include soap, paper towels, and hand sanitisers as well. Then you can encourage everyone using the restrooms to stick to proper hand hygiene practices.

Sticking to floor cleaning protocols 

Floor cleaning can help you to maintain a spotless environment across the healthcare facility. It will not be an easy thing to do since your floors experience heavy foot traffic throughout the day. Due to foot traffic, the hospital floors will accumulate dirt, debris, and many other potential contaminants. 

Your cleaning checklist must outline specific procedures for cleaning different types of floors. They include hard surfaces, carpets, and specialised floors you have in areas such as operating rooms. Moreover, the checklist must contain information about proper cleaning techniques as well. A few such cleaning techniques include vacuuming, mopping, and spot cleaning.

Adhere to appropriate hospital laundry procedures 

To maintain a safe environment, you will also need to ensure the cleanliness of linens. It will create a comfortable environment for both staff and patients. The hospital cleaning checklist must consider linen cleaning requirements as well.

You need to include detailed procedures for handling and washing hospital linens. There must be protocols in place for separating soiled and clean laundry. You should use appropriate disinfection methods when cleaning them as well. If the cleaning checklist outlines them, you can easily prevent cross-contamination. 

Proper waste management guidelines 

Healthcare facilities are responsible for promoting environmental responsibility. That’s mainly because healthcare facilities generate a considerable amount of waste. It includes both regulated medical waste and general waste.

Your hospital cleaning checklist should incorporate comprehensive waste management guidelines. It must outline proper segregation, handling, and disposal practices as well. Moreover, you need to adhere to national and local regulations related to waste management. It can help you maintain a safe and eco-friendly environment for everyone.

Using appropriate cleaning supplies and solutions 

It is better if the cleaning checklist for your hospital outlines all supplies and solutions you need as well. You will usually come across the need to use different cleaning solutions on cleaning tasks. The checklist must include what the approved cleaning products for each task are. 

You can also provide proper cleaning staff training on different cleaning products. Then you can expect them to use cleaning products in a responsible manner. This will eventually ensure optimal efficacy and safety of cleaning solutions.

Correct cleaning schedule and frequency

The cleaning schedule and frequency would vary depending on multiple factors. It includes the area that needs to be cleaned and the foot traffic it receives. Your detailed cleaning checklist must contain appropriate cleaning schedules for each and every area. For example, you need to increase the cleaning frequency of areas such as restrooms.

Final Words

This is a comprehensive checklist that you can follow when cleaning any hospital or medical facility. If you can stick to this, ensuring pristine cleanliness will not be a challenge. But if you can’t adhere to this checklist on your own, you may seek expert help. This is where our team at Holy Cross Cleaning can help. You can let us take care of all hospital cleaning needs. By following a comprehensive checklist, we will ensure 100% cleanliness at all times.