Hospital is a place that gives health care services to patients and every day hundreds of people visit this place. Patients, their relatives, doctors, nurses, and other paramedical staff get in contact with all most all the places of hospitals. Hence, keeping it clean is essential, thus housekeeping is one of the prime sections of a hospital.
The role of housekeeping is vital in any hospital. They keep the hospital clean, infection-free, and take care of a peaceful environment. They generally clean the floors, walls, and certain types of equipment, tables, and other surfaces in hospitals or clinics. They carefully take away the dirt, dust, stain, bad odors, germs, and other hazardous materials. They also provide disinfection services to get rid of germs, bacteria and fungi.
Let’s understand what housekeeping does in a hospital and the necessity of housecleaning in hospitals-
Role of housecleaning in hospitals:
There is a list of duties housekeeping staff has to perform that is divided into daily, weekly, and monthly basis. They need to clean rooms, floors, toilets, washrooms, washing mirrors, etc. along with regular mopping and sweeping of floors. Emptying trash cans from time to time in the whole area of the hospital building, and cleaning air vents are also the responsibility of the house cleaning staff. This maintenance and cleaning work helps to keep objects and surfaces of hospitals in good working condition.
Cloths and linen management are also coming under the housekeeping department’s responsibility. They are responsible to purchase, change the linens of the beds regularly, cleaning, and condemnation.
Pest control and infection control is another job of the hospital’s housekeeping department. Pests are uninvited guests and arrive even if you have cleaned a surface well. If you will see rats, cockroaches, lizards running around hospitals you will never feel comfortable in such a place. So, the housekeeping staff’s major job is to keep these pests away, so they perform pest control methods as well.
These are some of the basic duties performed by the housekeeping department of any hospital.
Equipment needed for housekeeping in hospital-
- DUSTER- to dust the dirt from surfaces
- BROOM (hard bristle) and SOFT BROOM- hard one is to clean the washroom and the soft one for sweeping
- WASTE BASKET- to through waste materials
- DUST BIN- to collects all the garbage
- DUST PAN- to collect dust and garbage
- DOORMAT- to keep in the entrance of operation theatre, laboratory, other rooms, toilets, and bathrooms to absorb dust particles from shoes
- DISINFECTANT- to clean germs
- BUCKET- carrying water to clean floor
- THREAD MOP-clean the rooms
- FLOOR STAIN REMOVING STONE- to clean the stains from the floor
- AIR FRESHENER- to make the air smell refreshed
- INSECTICIDE- to disinfect and clean
- POLISHING MACHINE- to polish floors
- VACUUM CLEANER- to deep clean
- MULTI-ACTION MOP- to clear water from the floor
- NAPHTHALENE BALLS- to place in the drains of the washbasin for preventing germ built-up
- TOILET CLEANER- for cleaning the toilet area
- HYDROCHLORIC ACID
- WOODEN BRUSH & NYLON BRUSH
These are some of the basic equipment needed when performing housekeeping in hospitals. While it is cost-effective for hospital staff to get the work done, hiring a commercial cleaning services company is a better decision.
Commercial cleaning companies provide their own staff, cleaning materials and oftentimes coordinate with hospital management for maintenance advice. If you’re running a hospital and are seriously considering engaging with a professional cleaning provider, it’s high time to do so to ensure the safety of both patients and hospital staff in your building.