Bacterial survival in laundered fabrics. (1/44)

Bacterial survival was determined in linens (i) inoculated with Staphylococcus auerus (ii), taken from hospital isolation patients' beds, and (iii) used by students in their homes. Two different washers using temperatures of 38, 49, 54 and 60 C, respectively, for different times were empolyed along with a commercial tumbler dryer. Findings, after macerating the linens in Waring blender and enumerating on nonselective media, indicate that acceptable levels of survivors can be acheived in motel and hotel linens by an 8- to 10-min wash cycle at 54 C followed by adequate drying. However, it is recommended that a wash cycle with 60 C for 10 to 13 min be employed for linens in health care factilities. The microbial significance of various laundering practices is discussed.  (+info)

Study of dust mites in three Birmingham hospitals. (2/44)

Samples of dust were collected from wards in a general hospital, a geriatric hospital, and a skin hospital. Mites were found on the floors of all three hospitals; Surprisingly, the skin hospital showed fewer mites than the general hospital. The differences were attributed to the variation in ward activity, the number of visitors on the wards, and the differing cleaning regimens. Plastic-covered mattresses were almost completely free from mites, but foci were found on soft furnishings and on the jackets and overcoats of hospital workers. The total numbers of mites were small compared to those found in house dust, and hospital mites probably do not consitute a serious problem for asthmatic patients.  (+info)

Internal properties of the CASH nursing care evaluation instrument. (3/44)

This article reports an analysis of the internal properties of an instrument that has been widely used to measure the quality of nursing care. Three-fourths of the 106 questions in the instrument failed to meet minimum standard psychometric test criteria. The better questions dealt with housekeeping rather than nursing duties; the instrument would appear to be reliable as a measure of cleanliness and orderliness, but not of actual nursing care.  (+info)

EVALUATION OF DISINFECTANTS FOR HOSPITAL HOUSEKEEPING USE. (4/44)

A use-dilution procedure and screening method are proposed to aid the hospital bacteriologist in selecting the most effective disinfectants. Sixteen disinfectants were tested with and without organic material on six different organisms. Sporadic results usually obtained with quaternaries tested by the procedure of the Association of Official Agricultural Chemists (AOAC) were eliminated by the methods of this study. The use-dilution procedure employs the material upon which the disinfectant is to be used, rather than stainless steel, as in the AOAC use-dilution test. The importance of testing each disinfectant against several organisms and in the presence of organic material is discussed.  (+info)

Quality care means valuing care assistants, porters, and cleaners too. (5/44)

All too often, the focus of the very clever strategy papers produced in the upper reaches of the health department is on the next grand plan. Some of these reforms have been catastrophic for the quality of service that patients experience at ward level. Of these, the contracting out culture introduced in the 1980s and the 1990s has been the worst. Researching my book, Hard work-life in low pay Britain, I took six jobs at around the minimum wage, including work as a hospital porter, as a hospital cleaner, and as a care assistant. These are jobs at the sharp end, up close and very personal to the patients, strongly influencing their experiences of the services they were using. Yet they are low paid, undervalued jobs that fall below the radar of the policy makers. In hospitals they need to be brought back in-house and integrated into a team ethos. Paying these people more would cost more, but it would also harvest great rewards by using their untapped commitment.  (+info)

Reducing absenteeism in hospital cleaning staff: pilot of a theory based intervention. (6/44)

AIMS: To develop, pilot, and evaluate a workplace intervention to reduce sickness absence, based on a demand-control-support model of job strain. METHODS: Changes in the working arrangements of hospital cleaning staff were introduced with the aim of increasing their control over work and the support received at work. The study design was quasi-experimental, with 221 cleaning staff in the intervention group and 91 catering staff in the control group. The dependent variable was the difference in percentage monthly sickness absence between the 12 months preceding and following the intervention. Differences in sickness absence between staff groups for each month after the intervention were compared with differences between staff groups for the equivalent month one year prior to it. RESULTS: There was a significant reduction in the difference in sickness absence rates between the intervention and control group of 2.3% in the six months after the intervention, compared to the six months before. The difference was not maintained at 12 months. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that a workplace intervention aimed at increasing control and support at work has a small effect on reducing sickness absence among hospital cleaning staff in the short term. Future research should seek to replicate this effect in larger, experimental studies, analyse postulated mediators of such theory based interventions, and develop interventions that maintain improvement.  (+info)

Long-term ethylene oxide exposure trends in US hospitals: relationship with OSHA regulatory and enforcement actions. (7/44)

OBJECTIVES: We assessed long-term trends in ethylene oxide (EtO) worker exposures for the purposes of exposure surveillance and evaluation of the impacts of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) 1984 and 1988 EtO standards. METHODS: We obtained exposure data from a large commercial vendor and processor of EtO passive dosimeters. Personal samples (87,582 workshift [8-hr] and 46,097 short-term [15-min] samples) from 2265 US hospitals were analyzed for time trends from 1984 through 2001 and compared with OSHA enforcement data. RESULTS: Exposures declined steadily for the first several years after the OSHA standards were set. Workshift exposures continued to taper off and have remained low and constant through 2001. However, since 1996, the probability of exceeding the short-term excursion limit has increased. This trend coincides with a decline in enforcement of the EtO standard. CONCLUSIONS: Results indicate the need for renewed intervention efforts to preserve gains made following the passage and implementation of the 1984 and 1988 EtO standards.  (+info)

Task-based estimation of mechanical job exposure in occupational groups. (8/44)

OBJECTIVES: This study examined the validity of a common belief in epidemiology with respect to work-related musculoskeletal disorders, that individual mechanical job exposure is better estimated from tasks performed in the job than from the mean exposure of the occupational group. METHODS: Whole-day recordings of upper trapezius electromyography were obtained from 24 cleaners and 23 office workers. Trapezius activity was analyzed in the level (gap time) and frequency (jerk time) dimensions. On the same day, the job of each person was divided into periods of active work and breaks by means of continuous observations. The bootstrap re-sampling technique was used with this database to compare task-based job exposure estimates with estimates based on the occupational mean. For a particular person, the task-based estimate was obtained by combining the average work and break exposures in the occupation with the personal time proportions of the two tasks in the job. RESULTS: The task-based estimates were, in general, equivalent to, or less correct than, occupation-based estimates for both exposure parameters in both occupations and for individual exposures, as well as for group means. This was the result in spite of significant and consistent exposure differences between work and breaks, in particular among the cleaners. CONCLUSIONS: Even if task exposure contrasts are large, task-based estimates of job exposures can be less correct than estimates based on the occupational mean. Since collecting and processing task information is costly, it is recommended that task-based modeling of mechanical exposure be implemented in studies only after careful examination of its possible benefits.  (+info)