Quality Quest Quandary
Case Study
The Client
A multi-site regional healthcare system with three acute hospitals and one long term care facility.
The Department
Environmental Services (ES) including facility-wide cleaning and disinfection.
What Was Happening
- Infection Prevention and Control were concerned about the hygiene of high touch and critical surfaces
- Environmental hygiene monitoring was not in place; progress on implementing a program had stalled
- Patients, Visitors and Clinicians were concerned about poor cleanliness and deteriorating conditions
- The media had begun to take notice, and the CEO was demanding improvements – fast!
What HPS Delivered
Consult
We launched a project steering committee that included Infection Prevention & Control, Frontline Staff, and Operations Management from all facilities. The team adopted LEAN Healthcare practices.
Create
We established a project schedule developed, and created a comprehensive toolkit of resource material. Each resource tool was field-tested before implementation.
Coach
ES Managers and Supervisors were trained to perform audits. Meetings were held with frontline staff, nurses and other clinical teams. Novel reporting tools were created to communicate findings to staff, management and clinicians.
Confirm
Auditor competencies were tested, and HPS performed a series of calibration audits to verify the accuracy of findings data. Compliance with overall program attributes was verified.
Outcome
- The team achieved their goal of implementing environmental hygiene audits – on time
- The department was finally able to share performance data with staff, management and clinicians
- Cleanliness improved immediately through increased staff awareness and job clarity of responsibilities
- The Organization started using the findings to make data-driven redevelopment investments
- The facilities became leaders in environmental hygiene quality measurement
- HPS gained another satisfied client!