Dealing with Cleaning-Related Infection Control Issues Head-On

A 57-year-old man was taken to a hospital emergency room after accidentally bumping his head on a hanging pipe in a garage. To help minimize the excessive bleeding, the man’s head was immediately cleaned and then bandaged. Then, he waited for more medical attention. Like many big-city emergency departments, this one is busy throughout the day, every day. The man did not see an emergency staff member for almost two hours, during which he did two things: watch all the activity in the emergency room and, quite unflatteringly for the hospital, notice how dirty it was.

According to the man, some floor areas did not look like they had been mopped clean in days. The countertops appeared clean, but a closer inspection revealed fingerprints and “sticky” areas. Railings and ledges around the bed and even some of the electronic equipment in the room also had fingerprints and looked soiled. Concerned about the conditions of the room, the man avoided any “high-touch” or commonly touched surfaces as much as possible. There was a hand-sanitizer unit mounted on the wall, which he used frequently, but the room had no faucet or sink, so handwashing was not possible.

Once treated, this man’s health concern was no longer his head, but rather the possibility of contracting some far more serious healthcare-acquired infection (HAI). Should he be concerned in this day and age when the public is much more aware of the need for infection prevention and control? Aren’t systems and procedures already in place in most American hospitals that help prevent the spread of disease in medical settings?