Maintaining not only the visual appeal of the flooring throughout your facility is great, but is the floor truly clean? a recent study performed* on flooring throughout hospitals used swabs on over 120 sites throughout a hospital environment in a Cleveland-area hospital. The bacteria they found has become some of the hospital-acquired infections (HCI's) that can cause life-threatening problems for hospital patients and employees.
The bacteria they found included:
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) leading to skin infections, bloodstream infections and pneumonia that is resistant to most common antibiotics was present on 22% of swabs.
Vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) causing urinary tract infections and wound infections, also resistant to common antibiotics was present on 33% of flooring swabs.
Clostridium difficile (C. diff) that causes severe diarrhea that can lead to life threatening problems was present on 72% of floor swabs. Most notably, in the isolation rooms where known C. diff patients were housed the infection was present, but also in rooms where there were no known cases of C. diff, showing the spread of the infection and its ability to survive on the floor.
24% of high touch objects in contact with the floor were contaminated with more than one bacterium.
57% of the objects in contact with the floor transferred the bacteria to the hands.
Microbes cant fly, but they can float around in the air and have the ability to get in contact with someone, causing infections. Overlooking the highest-touch surface in the facility is something that can not go ignored. Floors need to be disinfected; the floor cleaning programs that Nx2 creates for a facility can clean and sanitize flooring, eliminating many of the issues created by being such a high touch surface. Carpets need to be regularly vacuumed using a HEPA filtered vacuum. Periodic maintenance of carpets that include extraction can assist in both keeping the carpet looking clean but keeping the carpet free of contaminants.
Contact Nx2 today to see how we can increase the efficacy of your floor and carpet cleaning program. Understanding how contaminants work and their interaction with the floor and building occupants will allow us to tailor a program that will keep indoor air quality at its highest levels and employee morale high.
Cleaning can not be a low budget item and it requires constant attention to the changing conditions that the environment presents. Find a team that is always refreshing their toolbox of techniques and chemistries.
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