AN ESSENTIAL CHECKLIST FOR HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATORS

Most hos­pi­tals invest in their own team of envi­ron­men­tal ser­vices (EVS) pro­fes­sion­als to main­tain the high­est stan­dards of clean­li­ness and safe­ty. And, some hos­pi­tals part­ner with build­ing ser­vices con­trac­tors (BSCs), trans­fer­ring day-to-day EVS man­age­ment and tasks to the BSC. Ensur­ing that a BSC is meet­ing con­trac­tu­al oblig­a­tions, how­ev­er, remains the respon­si­bil­i­ty of hos­pi­tal admin­is­tra­tors.

This arti­cle offers admin­is­tra­tors key eval­u­a­tion prac­tices for assess­ing BSC effec­tive­ness.

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IN A NUTSHELL:

The best build­ing ser­vice con­trac­tors know that excel­lent EVS ser­vice begins with an up-to-date site inven­to­ry. A site inven­to­ry is the fun­da­men­tal data­base of the entire clean­able space of a facil­i­ty, enabling accu­rate mea­sure­ment of all EVS activ­i­ty. Each met­ric below is dif­fi­cult, or impos­si­ble, with­out a site inven­to­ry spe­cif­ic to a facil­i­ty.

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KEY EVALUATION METRICS

Room Inventory and Cleaning Frequencies

Admin­is­tra­tors should have access to a com­plete inven­to­ry of all rooms and areas requir­ing clean­ing, along with the clean­ing steps and fre­quen­cies.

Staffing Analysis Based on Performance Standards

Under­stand­ing staffing lev­els in rela­tion to per­for­mance stan­dards is cru­cial. BSCs should be able to pro­vide their analy­sis of the staffing lev­els required to meet the spe­cif­ic needs of the facil­i­ty, cal­cu­lat­ing fac­tors such as your facility’s make-up, as well as patient vol­ume.

Work Assignments and Schedules

Clear, doc­u­ment­ed work assign­ments and sched­ules help mea­sure the effi­cien­cy and reli­a­bil­i­ty of the BSC staff. Admin­is­tra­tors should have access to these doc­u­ments to ensure that all areas of the facil­i­ty are cov­ered as required.

Inspection Tools and Results

Reg­u­lar inspec­tions based on estab­lished stan­dards ensure on-going com­pli­ance and improve­ment. Admin­is­tra­tors should have access to inspec­tion results to peri­od­i­cal­ly review clean­li­ness and order­li­ness, match­ing them against the BSC’s com­mit­ments.

Training and Documentation

Admin­is­tra­tors should have access to a clear pic­ture of the ongo­ing employ­ee train­ing pro­gram. This includes evi­dence of com­plet­ed course con­tent as well as the tools used for man­ag­ing cours­es, sched­ul­ing, and report­ing on atten­dance and test scores.

Long-term Benefits

With eval­u­a­tion met­rics, stan­dards, and results read­i­ly avail­able, hos­pi­tal admin­is­tra­tors can effec­tive­ly mon­i­tor and assess the per­for­mance of their BSC. Fol­low­ing this prac­tice ensures that the facility’s sta­tus is known at all times. The data is also valu­able when con­sid­er­ing con­tract renewals or when seek­ing com­pet­i­tive bids from oth­er BSCs.

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CONCLUSION

The long-term goal is to empow­er admin­is­tra­tors with a com­pre­hen­sive set of eval­u­a­tion met­rics, stan­dards, and results that begin with an up-to-date site inven­to­ry. The result­ing set of tools includes room inven­to­ry, staffing analy­sis, work assign­ments, inspec­tion stan­dards, and train­ing. The tool set can be used to enhance cur­rent oper­a­tions with a BSC, or when review­ing pro­pos­als from poten­tial new BSCs. By pri­or­i­tiz­ing these eval­u­a­tion met­rics, hos­pi­tal admin­is­tra­tors can ensure a suc­cess­ful and account­able rela­tion­ship, receiv­ing clean­ing ser­vices that align with both their oper­a­tional goals and patient care stan­dards. Smart Facil­i­ty Soft­ware works with build­ing ser­vices con­trac­tors, as well as hos­pi­tal EVS Depart­ments, to cre­ate and update site inven­to­ries for health­care facil­i­ties.