Who is really caring for your environment of care? Developing standardized cleaning procedures and effective monitoring techniques.

Health care facilities have procedures for cleaning patient care environments, but there is often confusion about the division of labor when it comes to cleaning responsibilities. In addition, systems to monitor cleaning effectiveness are frequently suboptimal. In 2007, a multidisciplinary task force revised policies outlining staff responsibilities for cleaning in-patient nursing care units and chose a monitoring system using a specialized adenosine triphosphate bioluminescence test. Copyright 2010 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Mosby, Inc. All rights reserved.