This guest post is by Prof Sally Bloomfield, Chairman, International Scientific Forum on Home Hygiene (IFH)…
At Infection Prevention 2024 in September, I gave a presentation on this issue which I found challenging and thought-provoking to write. I started from the point that environmental hygiene and cleanliness in healthcare settings has 2 fundamentally different functions:
| “Hygiene” through practices that reduce risk of exposure of patients, healthcare personnel and visitors to pathogenic microbes | “Visual cleanliness” is vital to sustaining patient, visitor and staff perception that high quality care is being delivered |
| Physical removal and/or disinfection to reduce microbial contamination on environmental surfaces (and air) to an acceptable (safe) level | Physical removal of dust, soil, etc by mechanical action with or without detergent, until visibly clean |
Reflections on Infection Prevention and Control 