How to Choose Commercial Cleaning Services for Ambulatory and Healthcare Facilities

If you run an urgent care, surgery center, dialysis center, outpatient treatment center or another type of ambulatory care or healthcare facility, it needs to be clean and provide a safe, healthy environment. Your patients, staff, and visitors expect — and deserve — a spotless facility.

When you are trying to find commercial cleaning services to provide cleaning and disinfection, you cannot just go online and search for commercial cleaning services near me. You need a professional commercial cleaning service that has specialized teams with experience working in healthcare environments.

So, how do you go about choosing among commercial cleaning services for your ambulatory care or healthcare facility? Here are the things you need to know.

Experience with Healthcare Guidelines

Your commercial cleaning company needs to observe cleaning standards in healthcare to make sure they are following all recommended guidelines. They should also be trained on best practices for commercial cleaning for healthcare facilities, including:

• Universal Precautions Training
• Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS) and Safety Data Sheets (SDSs) from OSHA
• Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO)
• OSHA Compliance for Hazard Communication
• OSHA Standard Bloodborne Pathogens
• Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care (AAAHC)
• Applicable State Health Department standards
• GBAC Certified for Biorisk

You cannot afford to take risks with commercial cleaning services. Make sure they have the proper accreditations and training.

Avoid any company that does not employ trained professionals. Many commercial cleaning services use day hires or do not have technicians capable of providing the quality care you need in a healthcare setting.

Cleaning and Disinfecting

COVID has heightened everyone’s awareness of the need for high-quality infection control. You want to be able to assure patients and staff you are providing them a safe and healthy environment. A trained commercial cleaning service is the best way to make sure you have that.

When evaluating commercial cleaning services, ask to see their standard checklist. It should include all areas of your facility to be cleaned and disinfected, with particular attention to high-touch surfaces and high-traffic areas. You should discuss your specific needs, such as treatment rooms, changing areas, or sub-sterile areas.

Cleaning and disinfecting should be two separate processes and follow prescribed guidelines. Cleaning gets rid of dirt and grime. Only after this is completed can disinfection can take place. Otherwise, it will not be effective. Use only EPA-approved, hospital-grade disinfectants in your facility. Pay particular attention to the required dwell time for surfaces to remain wet for effective infection control.

If you are talking to commercial cleaning services and they do not meet any of these standards, cross them off your list.

CDC Recommendations for Healthcare Cleaning

Even before COVID-19 came on the scene, healthcare-associated infections (HAI) posed significant problems, affecting millions of patients every year. In resource-limited facilities, as many as 15% of patients were affected.

The Center for Disease Control recommends that any commercial cleaning service working in healthcare should provide you with information such as:

• Organizational charts for all contracted employees, including functional reporting lines and responsibilities
• Staffing plans for each patient care area, including contingency plans for additional staff
• Training content and frequency for contracted employees
• Cleaning schedules and methods for each patient care area, in line with the facility policy
• Methods for routine monitoring and feedback
• List of supplies and equipment to be used

For most healthcare facilities, scheduling will be an important consideration. Closing facilities means lost revenue and limited patient care. Commercial cleaning services should be able to work on your schedule to limit any downtime, even if you are a 24x7 operation.

The OpenWorks Strategy for Commercial Cleaning Services for Healthcare Facilities

OpenWorks’ elite network of service providers offers multiple levels of service as part of its TotalWorksTM complete cleaning and disinfection system.

• SaniServicesTM 

Three cleaning and disinfection options are available. Each includes the use of EPA List-N-approved disinfectant products and disinfection of high-touch surfaces per CDC recommendations.

• InfectaGuardTM

InfectaGuardTM is a deep cleaning and disinfecting service that includes hard-to-reach surfaces and surfaces not typically cleaned regularly.

For complete peace of mind, many healthcare facilities choose long-lasting protection with a service such as Continuous Care from OpenWorks. Continuous Care includes an antimicrobial surface protectant that is applied after surfaces have been cleaned and disinfected to ensure continuous protection from germs and bacteria for up to 90 days. When applied with an electrostatic sprayer, it provides 100% coverage and inhibits the growth of bacteria and microorganisms such as COVID-19.

OpenWorks’ elite network of service providers supplies extraordinary commercial healthcare cleaning and disinfection services to provide a clean and healthy environment for your staff and patients. With decades of experience, OpenWorks is committed to providing the most effective and innovative processes, highly trained professional cleaners using the latest cleaning technology and practices, and the best service in the industry.

Contact OpenWorks to get an estimate for cleaning, disinfection and infection control services in your ambulatory or healthcare facility.