Cleanliness is critical to ensuring everyone’s health, safety, and well-being, especially in care homes that handle elderly and immunocompromised individuals. Spreading infections and illnesses in these spaces can pose serious risks to patients and affect their quality of life.
Cleaning nursing homes involves comprehensive infection control, sanitization, and careful attention to detail. Here’s what you should look for when outsourcing cleaning services for care and nursing homes: the unique challenges that professional services can address, and how to create a nursing home cleaning checklist that ensures the highest cleanliness levels.
Unique Cleaning Challenges in Care & Nursing Homes
Professional cleaning in care homes and nursing homes addresses unique challenges with due diligence. Their services ensure a safe environment for both residents and staff.
- Vulnerable Populations: Residents of care and nursing homes are frequently elderly and have compromised immune systems.
- High-Touch Surfaces: High-touch surfaces can become breeding grounds for germs and viruses. These require frequent disinfection to prevent the spread of infections.
- 24/7 Operations: Unlike other facilities, care homes operate around the clock, requiring efficient cleaning solutions to minimize operational disruptions.
Key Areas That Require Special Attention
Certain areas demand particular focus to maintain a high level of cleanliness in care and nursing homes. Cleaning nursing homes often entails various cleaning needs and risks:
- Resident Rooms: Resident rooms are personal living spaces that must be cleaned regularly to provide a comfortable and hygienic environment.
- Common Areas: Residents and staff frequently gather in lounges, dining rooms, and hallways, which can be hotspots for germs. Cleaning in care homes ensures that shared spaces are disinfected and debris-free.
- Bathrooms and Restrooms: Given the high potential for germ transfer in these spaces, bathrooms require thorough and frequent cleaning. This includes daily sanitization and regular disinfection to prevent the spread of pathogens.
- Kitchens and Dining Areas: These areas must adhere to strict health and safety standards to prevent foodborne illnesses.
- Medical Equipment & Stations: Proper cleaning and disinfection of medical equipment are essential in preventing healthcare-associated infections and ensuring the safety of the residents who rely on this equipment.
Essential Cleaning Practices and Standards
Cleaning nursing homes effectively requires these key practices and standards:
- Infection Control: This means using the proper disinfectants and cleaning methods to eliminate germs that could harm vulnerable residents and spread throughout the facility.
- Proper Waste Disposal: Aside from regular garbage, care facilities should consider how to dispose of medical waste and items contaminated with bodily fluids. Medical waste must be disposed of following regulatory guidelines to prevent exposure or contamination.
- Sanitization and Disinfection: Sanitizing eliminates most germs on surfaces to a safe level while disinfecting kills nearly all germs on the surface. Different areas will require either based on their risk level.
- Cleaning Frequency: High-traffic areas such as common rooms and bathrooms should be cleaned several times daily, while resident rooms may require daily cleaning. Deep cleaning tasks should be scheduled weekly or monthly.
Nursing Home Cleaning Checklist
An effective cleaning routine involves daily, weekly, and monthly tasks and certain duties that need to be performed as needed. Here is a nursing home cleaning checklist with the standard tasks for any care facility. Add, remove, and tailor this list to your facility’s needs.
Daily Tasks
- Clean and disinfect high-touch surfaces (such as door knobs, light switches, handrails).
- Empty and sanitize trash bins.
- Wipe down counters and tables in common areas and dining spaces.
- Clean and disinfect bathrooms.
- Mop floors in high-traffic areas.
Weekly Tasks
- Deep clean resident rooms.
- Sanitize shared kitchen areas and refrigerators.
- Clean and polish hard floors in hallways and common areas.
Monthly Tasks
- Deep clean carpets and upholstery.
- Inspect and clean HVAC systems and air vents.
- Clean windows, blinds, and curtains.
As-Needed Tasks
- Clean spills or messes immediately.
- Perform a thorough cleaning following sickness outbreaks or high illness rates.
The Role of Professional Cleaning Services
While care home staff can manage daily cleaning tasks, professional cleaning services for nursing homes provide several advantages:
- Expertise in Infection Control: Professional cleaning services have specialized training in preventing the spread of healthcare-associated infections to ensure a safer environment for residents and staff.
- Access to Advanced Equipment and Techniques: Professional cleaners use advanced tools and equipment for deeper and more effective cleaning. This ensures that high-traffic areas and hard-to-clean surfaces are thoroughly sanitized.
- Compliance with Health and Safety Regulations: Professional cleaners understand health and safety regulations and ensure that all cleaning processes meet these strict standards. This helps care homes maintain a safe and compliant environment.
Keep Facilities Clean and Residents Safe with JAN-PRO Cleaning & Disinfecting
A clean and hygienic environment is essential in ensuring care home residents’ health, safety, and comfort. Facilities that want to adhere to strict cleaning protocols should outsource their cleaning services for nursing homes to professional commercial cleaning services for more complex tasks.
JAN-PRO Cleaning & Disinfecting understands the needs of care homes and other care facilities. Schedule your cleaning needs today and give your residents the benefits of pristine, well-maintained spaces.
Cleaning and disinfecting services provided by independently owned and operated JAN-PRO Cleaning & Disinfecting franchisees.