The MRSA Reduction Blog: CDC Offers Guidance on Evaluation of Environmental Cleaning.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has released guidance for programs to optimize the thoroughness of cleaning of high-touch surfaces. The guidance recommends a two-level program administered by infection preventionists and coordinated and maintained through environmental services professionals. The document, “Options for Evaluating Environmental Cleaning,” was prepared by Alice Guh, MD, MPH, of the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion in the National Center for Emerging and Zoonotic Infectious Diseases at the CDC, and Philip Carling, MD, of Carney Hospital and Boston University School of Medicine in Boston. Assistance in document preparation was provided by Brian Koll of Beth Israel Medical Center in New York; Marion Kainer and Ellen Borchers from the Tennessee Department of Health in Nashville, Tenn.; and Brandi Jordan of the Illinois Department of Public Health in Chicago. The document notes, “In view of the evidence that transmission of many healthcare-acquired pathogens (HAPs) is related to contamination of near-patient surfaces and equipment, all hospitals are encouraged to develop programs to optimize the thoroughness of high-touch surface cleaning as part of terminal room cleaning at the time of discharge or transfer of patients.
