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 5th 2025
Despite their protective role, gloves are often misused in health care settings—undermining hand hygiene, risking patient safety, and worsening environmental impact. Alexandra Peters, PhD, points out that this misuse deserves urgent attention, especially today, World Hand Hygiene Day.
Environmental Hygiene: Biocides and Sporicidal Disinfectants
September 19th 2013This Pulse provides a quick summary of some of the ideas and perspectives coming out of the 2013 Spring Conference of the Society of Healthcare Epidemiologists of America (SHEA), particularly debates regarding microbial resistance to biocides, as well as the use of sporicidal disinfectants in outbreak- and non-outbreak settings.
AHE, Kimberly-Clark Announce Heart of Healthcare Award Winners
September 19th 2013The Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE), of the American Hospital Association (AHA), and Kimberly-Clark announce the recipients of the second annual Heart of Healthcare Awards, honoring outstanding frontline environmental services technicians who make a difference for patients and residents across all care settings. The award is a component of the Heart of Healthcare campaign developed by AHE and Kimberly-Clark Professional, which recognizes and elevates the critical role that frontline environmental services technicians play in the healthcare environment.
New Trap Captures Bed Bugs More Effectively
August 6th 2013A new pitfall trap designed to capture bed bugs is more effective than those currently on the market, according to the authors of an article appearing in the next issue of the Journal of Economic Entomology. The authors also found that traps baited with an experimental chemical lure mixture caught 2.2 times as many bed bugs as traps without the lure. Their findings suggest that an effective and affordable bed bug monitor can be made incorporating the new pitfall trap design, a chemical lure, and a sugar-and-yeast mixture to produce carbon dioxide, which is also known to attract bed bugs.