The Infection Control Today® environmental services (EVS) page recognizes the team responsible for sanitation and cleaning within the health care system. EVS personnel are an integral component of infection prevention in the hospital, working closely together with the health care staff to ensure patient safety and hygiene standards. ICT® keeps a close eye on developments in the environmental services industry and reports on any peer-reviewed literature. This page also features video interviews with EVS and the professionals who interact with them.
May 6th 2024
Dive into the scope of paper waste in the health care industry, its environmental toll, and strategies to reduce paper waste while balancing the needs of health care settings.
April 12th 2024
February 29th 2024
Medical Crossfire®: Maximizing Patient Outcomes in Shingles – Are You Leveraging Guideline Based Care?
View More
Understanding RSV: What You Need to Know to Prevent and Treat Respiratory Syncytial Virus in Your Patients
View More
Respiratory Syncytial Virus: Understanding the Infection Burden and Anticipating the Impact of Vaccines
View More
Medical Crossfire®: Which Patients with Hematologic Malignancies are at Risk for Secondary Immunodeficiency (SID)… and How Can We Leverage Evidence to Improve Their Outcomes?
View More
Patient, Provider, and Caregiver Connection™: Prevention and Control of Meningococcal Disease — Individualizing Vaccine Recommendations in Adolescent Populations
View More
Biopesticide Could Defeat Insecticide Resistance in Bed Bugs
March 22nd 2017A fungal biopesticide that shows promise for the control of bed bugs is highly effective even against bed-bug populations that are insecticide resistant, according to research conducted by scientists at Penn State and North Carolina State universities. The study suggests that Aprehend, a mycoinsecticide developed at Penn State, likely will provide an important new tool for managing bed-bug infestations, which have surged in recent years.
Antimicrobial Surfaces as a Tool to Support HAI Prevention
February 13th 2017More than 1 million healthcare associated infections (HAIs) occur within the U.S. healthcare system every year. According to a study per-formed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), approximately 1 of every 25 hospitalized patients in the U.S. develop an HAI, meaning that nearly 650,000 patients contract one of these infections annually. These infections can lead to serious illness and result in the loss of thousands of lives each year. In addition they impose a tremendous financial burden, estimated to be more than a billion dollars annually in the U.S.
Tropical Bed Bug Reappears After 60-Year Absence
November 10th 2016For the first time in 60 years, a tropical bed bug has been confirmed in Florida, and University of Florida Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences researchers urge the public to send them samples of suspected bed bugs for identification.
Cleanliness is Contagious: Analyzing the Significance of HCAHPS' Question 8
November 3rd 2016With flu season around the corner and the latest Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems (HCAHPS) deadline just passed, now seems the ideal time to explore the issue of cleanliness, the topic of Question 8 of that quarterly survey. Almost every aspect of the healthcare environment involves decontamination. After all, a hospital is the last place where germs should flourish and spread. And these days, with the HCAHPS reporting mandate in place, the subject of cleanliness – and the poll’s other questions as well – has become even more important. Patients’ responses to HCAHPS influence a hospital’s reputation and finances. Therefore, as fall and winter bring bouts of flu cases and facilities aim to stay at the top of their survey scores, some pointers on cleanliness principles and procedures may be what the doctor ordered.