Floor Cleaning Tips for a Post-COVID Hospital Environment

Establishing Sustainable Cleaning Practices

In the early days of the pandemic, you couldn’t grab a shopping cart without a masked employee first wiping it down for you. Every type of facility, from grocery stores to medical offices, constantly smelled like hand sanitizer — that is, if they weren’t closed entirely.

Now that hospitals, clinics, and healthcare systems enter this new reality, stakeholders must carefully consider which floor cleaning practices enhance the health and safety of their facility and not just sanitation theater.

This should be done with careful consideration, as many of the cleaning practices established during the height of the pandemic have been shown to improve hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates. This is an important part of calculating the true costs of cleaning efforts since Medicare doesn’t reimburse hospitals for treatment costs associated with HAIs.

Autonomous floor cleaners from Tennant Company can help your hospital derive the most value from a limited janitorial labor force so that human effort can be redeployed toward high-touch areas that have a significant impact on infection prevention and control. 

• Patients must be in a single-occupancy room
• The room must have its own bathroom
• Hospitals should limit moving patients outside their rooms unless it’s medically necessary to do so
• Individuals visiting a COVID-19 patient should limit their time in the rest of the facility

These protocols may cease when a patient tests negative for COVID-19 or ten days have passed since their symptoms first appear.

Hospitals may want to take specialized floor-cleaning precautions as dedicated COVID-19 units are sunset and transitioned back to general use. Micro-Scrubbers can help staff clean floors better and more efficiently, and with brush widths as narrow as 11 inches, they’re adept at navigating single-occupancy patient rooms. This transition isn’t just a prime opportunity for a deeper clean as rooms are largely empty and equipment is reshuffled around the hospital; it also sends a powerful message to future patients about the hospital’s commitment to infection control. 

Keep Water Off the Floors

Reduce the risk of slip and fall accidents by using NSFI-certified cleaning equipment that removes dirt and soil, maintains air quality, and leaves surfaces safe and dry.

Limit Machine Noise

Use machines that are quiet and allow for daytime cleaning. The noise outside a patient’s room can impact their stay and potentially reduce HCAHP scores.

Choose Floor Types Wisely

Seamless, sealed, and impervious flooring are the best choices for mitigating bacteria growth. Conversely, surfaces with grout or that are porous in nature are not recommended. Some disinfectants and cleaning chemicals can erode flooring surfaces or create slip-and-fall risks.