OpenWorks' Tips for Medical Facilities when Creating a Cleaning Program

If you manage a medical facility, getting the right facility service provider in place can be a long and complicated process. Like every other facility, you have to ensure that you’re sticking to a set budget, but you also have an added challenge in that your facility has to meet certain industry standards.Luckily, OpenWorks is well versed in helping medical facilities with their facility needs. We spoke with one of our trusted District Managers and Certified Infection Control Trainer, Mary Torrado, to share her tips on how practice and clinic managers can ensure their facilities comply with standards while staying within budget:

1. Establish your needs. First of all, Mary underlines that each health facility runs differently and will therefore have different needs. Whether or not you have an urgent care department, run a family practice, or manage a surgery will determine if your needs will be minor, or escalating. Also, your facility’s traffic is an important deciding factor when it comes to assessing the frequency of your cleanings.

2. Create a plan. Your specific plan will evaluate the needs of your facility and determine not only what is needed to be cleaned, but how to keep it up to standard to provide full infection control. This might range from general cleaning services for the lobby, exam rooms, and counter tops with staff handling patient beds and disinfecting, or a full treatment plan for higher-grade facilities which include terminal cleans and quarterly deep cleans.

3. Finalizing the plan. Our OpenWorks franchise owners are our service providers, and we rigorously prepare them for facilities that have specific needs, such as medical facilities. We create guidelines for their team to follow, and go through the facility’s contract line by line. We’ll then establish the equipment that is needed to properly maintain and improve the facility. If a facility has different departments, such as a clinic and a surgery, different equipment and guidelines would be required.

4. Factors to Consider. When designing the right plan for your facility there are a number of factors to consider. For one, budget almost always comes into play with medical facilities, as regulations call for specific medical grade supplies as well as certain safety precautions. This makes medical facilities much more challenging to run than a typical office building. It is also worth considering the abilities of your internal staff and whether or not your budget would need for them to cover lighter duties, such as cleaning countertops.

5. Implementing the plan. When you are ready to roll out the plan, OpenWorks will review the scope, undergo a walk-through of the facility, and make sure our staff are well prepared to take care of your facility. We can also train your staff on the products we utilize so they know exactly what is being used in the facility.

6. Closing: Considering your Provider. The most important factor to consider, no matter your budget or the service provider you choose to work with, is making sure that your facility is up to standards. OpenWorks understands that this is vitally important, and will urge you to carefully consider any tasks you assign your in-house staff when creating your cleaning program.

Ultimately, when it comes to cleaning medical facilities, OpenWorks knows that a great deal of care and attention is needed to create a strong cleaning program that will keep your facility up to standards. Our team is hugely experienced in working with health care facilities across the country, and we are happy to share our expertise in helping you create the right program for you.To request a quote for your healthcare facility, or to simply find out more, click here.