Before making any changes, environmental services (EVS) managers must revisit and rethink the spaces they clean and separate them into clinical and nonclinical environments.
In the clinical space, everything cleaners do must be entirely centered on serving patients and keeping the environment safe for infection prevention and environmental hygiene. Here, the speed in which these spaces are readied for care is also a concern.
When budgets get tight and boosting efficiencies builds in importance, EVS directors must look to nonclinical environments as places to increase efficiency. Take floor care, for example, which can be broken into routine, periodical or restorative cleaning. Are there areas that would not be affected if floor care were reduced?
But in offices and support areas, is it necessary to maintain floors as often as one does in clinical areas? Office cleaning is a frequency you can easily adjust. In some places, offices are cleaned five days a week, but could you go to cleaning them three or once a week instead?
What about adding a communal receptacle and asking occupants to dump their own trash, eliminating the need for cleaners to enter each office? Project work might be reduced, as well — maybe floor refinishing can be done biannually instead of quarterly.
In the clinical space, everything cleaners do must be entirely centered on serving patients and keeping the environment safe for infection prevention and environmental hygiene. Here, the speed in which these spaces are readied for care is also a concern.
When budgets get tight and boosting efficiencies builds in importance, EVS directors must look to nonclinical environments as places to increase efficiency. Take floor care, for example, which can be broken into routine, periodical or restorative cleaning. Are there areas that would not be affected if floor care were reduced?
But in offices and support areas, is it necessary to maintain floors as often as one does in clinical areas? Office cleaning is a frequency you can easily adjust. In some places, offices are cleaned five days a week, but could you go to cleaning them three or once a week instead?
What about adding a communal receptacle and asking occupants to dump their own trash, eliminating the need for cleaners to enter each office? Project work might be reduced, as well — maybe floor refinishing can be done biannually instead of quarterly.
You are absolutely right! Some adjustments hardly affect the quality of service you receive from your cleaning service, but go a long way in cutting the cost. So much better to evaluate where savings can be made than to cut the service.
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