Sunday, 2 April 2017

Environmental Services Henrico VA Hospitals Rely On Are Critical

By Karen Anderson


Anyone who has ever had to spend time in a hospital knows how noisy and busy they are. Even small facilities have a large staff made up of doctors, nurses, administrators, office employees and others. Taking care of individuals in varying stages of sickness is a complicated and difficult process. Everyone has a specific job to do to ensure patients have the best care possible in the cleanest environment. The environmental services Henrico VA hospitals use have an important part to play.

Patients want to feel better when they are discharged, not worse. All patients are sectioned off and put on different floors depending on their conditions, but staff members come and go all through the hospital without changing clothes or shoes. Making sure the surfaces they come into contact with are as sterile as possible is the job of the service employees. They are the workers who keep house, swab the floors, and handle the massive amounts of laundry generated each day.

Many hospitals require their service employees to attend periodic training sessions. These sessions are meant to reinforce existing rules and regulations and to explain the implementation of new ones. Session leaders go over hand washing procedures, fire safety, emergency codes, radiation safety, protective gear, and how to best prevent falls when assisting patients. They also instruct employees on the rules regarding medication security and blood transmitted diseases.

In a hospital environment, quality is a top priority. Service employees are expected to maintain it to the highest degree. There are periodic inspections to ensure all measures are taken to make sure the hospital is as clean and germ free as possible. There are occasionally new regulations put into place to improve the quality of floor care and laundry service.

This is a department that necessarily generates a lot of waste, and as such, great efforts are made to recycle and re-use whenever possible. Since waste disposal rules change periodically, it is a function of management to ensure all waste removal is handled in accordance with government guidelines.

Such a massive effort cannot be accomplished unless everyone works together. When one shift takes over for another, there must be a smooth transition. This takes coordination, cooperation, and communication between the workers. Departments foster an atmosphere of pride and accomplishment by awarding deserving employees with plaques and special recognition. Many hospitals regularly hold staff events such as picnics and parties to strengthen the sense of working within a team.

Hospitals with reputations for cleanliness are much more likely to have patients who feel confident and secure. When organizations and communities recognize the efforts of the service department at a particular hospital, the management makes sure the information is spread by print and social media.

People who are sick or injured already have enough on their minds without having to worry about whether or not they will be accidentally exposed to some dangerous infection or virus. Maintaining the highest degree of cleanliness will greatly lessen this possibility and ease the minds of the patients.




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