Targeted Moments of Environmental Disinfection

摘要

Increasing the cleaning/disinfection of the health care environment beyond once per day has been proposed when bioburden on health care equipment was analyzed during outbreaks. Hand hygiene is recommended during five targeted moments, and this article presents targeted moments for cleaning and disinfection of the patient zone using a similar approach. EVS staff clean and disinfect a patient’s room once per day. Hospital rooms may be contaminated with microorganisms multiple times a day; these microorganisms could be spread to patients in the same or other rooms. The TMED program outlines key, high-risk occasions when contamination may have occurred and provides moments when the environment requires additional cleaning and disinfection to keep patients safe. Educating all HCWs to TMED would require explanation of how these targeted moments would complement current practices and providing an understanding of everyone’s role in keeping patients safe. TMED will keep the microbial burden as low as possible until EVS performs the thorough, once-per-day cleaning. Involvement of all HCWs (for example, nursing, respiratory therapy, physical and occupational therapy) is essential to minimize the risk of cross contamination and keep patients safe while in our care.