Validated hospital cleaning and sanitation practices

Abstract

A validated healthcare facility cleaning and sanitizing system provides a comprehensive and systematic approach to cleaning and sanitizing practices at a hospital or other healthcare facility. The validated hospital cleaning system identifies hospital vectors of contamination; that is, sources through which hospital acquired infections (HAIs) may be spread. The validated system defines a plurality of modules within a healthcare facility, each having an associated cleaning process map designed to meet the particular cleaning and/or sanitizing needs and challenges faced by that module. Various stages of the cleaning process map include validation points, at which certain parameters designed to ensure proper cleaning and/or sanitizing of the module are verified.

1 . A system comprising:
 a database configured to store a plurality of cleaning process maps associated with a healthcare facility, each of the cleaning process maps including one or more parameters indicative of adherence to proper housekeeping procedures within the healthcare facility, and further including one or more monitoring procedures that define housekeeping data to be collected for each of the one or more parameters;   at least one input device that receives the collected housekeeping data as entered by a user; and   a computing device configured to receive the collected housekeeping data from the at least one input device;   the database further configured to store the collected housekeeping data in association with hospital data that uniquely identifies the healthcare facility;   the computing device further configured to analyze the collected housekeeping data with respect to the parameters and generate therefrom validation data indicative of whether the parameters were satisfied, and configured to generate one or more reports based on the analysis;   the input device further including:
 at least one processor; 
 a user interface; and 
 a validation application that, when executed by the processor, causes one or more screens to be presented on the user interface through which a user may enter the collected housekeeping data, the one or more screens to be presented on the user interface including one or more screens through which a user may enter collected housekeeping data concerning whether one or more high touch points were cleaned. 
   
     
     
         2 . The system of  claim 1  wherein each of the cleaning process maps corresponds to a different one of a plurality of modules within the healthcare facility and defines housekeeping procedures associated with the corresponding module within the healthcare facility. 
     
     
         3 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the plurality of modules within the healthcare facility include at least one of a patient room module, a critical care module, a central sterile processing module, an operating room module, a food service module, a bathroom module, or a laundry room module. 
     
     
         4 . The system of  claim 2  wherein the plurality of modules include at least one of a patient skincare module, a wound cleansing module, or a hand hygiene module. 
     
     
         5 . The system of  claim 2  wherein at least one of the plurality of modules is associated with a physical area of the healthcare facility. 
     
     
         6 . The system of  claim 2  wherein at least one of the plurality of modules is associated with one or more functions carried out within the healthcare facility. 
     
     
         7 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the collected data concerning whether one or more high touch points were cleaned includes data concerning whether an indicator applied to one or more of the high touch points was disturbed. 
     
     
         8 . The system of  claim 7  wherein the indicator includes at least one of a photoluminescent indicator or a chemiluminescent indicator. 
     
     
         9 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the collected data concerning whether one or more high touch points were cleaned includes data concerning whether an indicator applied to one or more of the high touch points was removed. 
     
     
         10 . The system of  claim 1  wherein each of the monitoring procedures may include a definition of the monitoring procedure which may be used to determine whether the one or more parameters are satisfied. 
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 1  wherein each of the monitoring procedures may include a description of a verification procedure which may be used to determine whether the parameters are satisfied 
     
     
         12 . The system of  claim 11  wherein the verification procedure includes one of a titration procedure, a visual indicator procedure, a surface culture procedure, and a time-based monitoring procedure. 
     
     
         13 . The system of  claim 1  wherein each of the monitoring procedures may include a frequency defining how often the monitoring procedure should be performed. 
     
     
         14 . The system of  claim 1  wherein each of the monitoring procedures may include a definition of the type of person who will perform the monitoring procedure 
     
     
         15 . The system of  claim 14  wherein the type of person includes one of a hospital environmental services manager, a service technician, and housekeeping personnel. 
     
     
         16 . The system of  claim 1  where the parameters include a target concentration of an active ingredient for a disinfectant and a target amount of disinfectant to be delivered to a surfaces. 
     
     
         17 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the collected housekeeping data includes at least one of a titration result, a disinfectant chemical product concentration, and a dispensed detergent amount. 
     
     
         18 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the collected housekeeping data includes at least one of a bioluminescence reading and a chemiluminescence reading. 
     
     
         19 . The system of  claim 1  wherein the collected housekeeping data includes results of a microbial culture. 
     
     
         20 . A system comprising:
 a database configured to store a plurality of cleaning process maps associated with one of a plurality of healthcare facilities, each of the cleaning process maps including one or more parameters indicative of adherence to proper housekeeping procedures within the healthcare facility, and further including one or more monitoring procedures that define housekeeping data to be collected for each of the one or more parameters;   a plurality of input devices configured to receive the collected housekeeping data, each of the plurality of input devices associated with one or more of the plurality of healthcare facilities; and   a computing device configured to receive the collected housekeeping data from the plurality of input devices;   the database further configured to store the collected housekeeping data in association with hospital data that uniquely identifies the associated one of the plurality of healthcare facilities from which the collected housekeeping data was received;   the computing device further configured to analyze the collected housekeeping data with respect to the parameters and generate therefrom validation data indicative of whether the parameters were satisfied, and configured to generate one or more reports based on the analysis;   each of the plurality of input devices further including:
 at least one processor; 
 a user interface; and 
 a validation application that, when executed by the processor, causes one or more screens to be presented on the user interface through which a user may enter the collected housekeeping data, the one or more screens to be presented on the user interface including one or more screens through which a user may enter collected housekeeping data concerning whether one or more high touch points were cleaned.