Building an effective sluice room cleaning schedule
Firstly it is vital that the sluice room layout is respected. You need a very clean storage area, separate from any soiled areas and a hand washing station. All staff should be aware of their roles in keeping the sluice room tidy and there should be a clear back-up plan in the event of staff holidays or sickness.
A lot of the efficacy of cleaning schedules in sluice rooms does come down to ensuring that the layout of the sluice room is optimised. Ensuring that the sluice room is visibly clean is critical as psychologically humans are far more likely to comply with cleaning rotas and take pride in their work if the room is clean. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg scenario, but it is certainly true that cleanliness breeds cleanliness.
A sluice room must be set up to facilitate the following:
Therefore, when planning a cleaning rota, the list must certainly allow for maintaining all of these areas and using different cleaning apparatus in different areas to prevent cross-contamination.
A lot of the efficacy of cleaning schedules in sluice rooms does come down to ensuring that the layout of the sluice room is optimised. Ensuring that the sluice room is visibly clean is critical as psychologically humans are far more likely to comply with cleaning rotas and take pride in their work if the room is clean. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg scenario, but it is certainly true that cleanliness breeds cleanliness.
A sluice room must be set up to facilitate the following:
- Testing urine
- The disposal of body fluids including water contaminated with body fluids, exudate, etc.
- The decontamination of commodes
- Temporary holding of items requiring reprocessing
- Clinical handwash facilities
- Clear demarcation between clean/unused equipment and solid/dirty equipment
- Separation of clean and dirty areas, with a clearly defined workflow pattern.
Therefore, when planning a cleaning rota, the list must certainly allow for maintaining all of these areas and using different cleaning apparatus in different areas to prevent cross-contamination.