Tips and Educational Activities

No matter what your position is, you can help improve housekeeping practices at your facility by encouraging your supervisors to help make sure all staff, administrators, and supervisors understand and practice good housekeeping. The following are recommended activities and tips for promoting good housekeeping practices at your site:

• Hold regular in-service training. All cleaning staff and their supervisors should receive periodic updates on effective practices on a regular basis. Information about good infection prevention practices--including good housekeeping--should be a part of this in-service training.
• Hold staff orientations. Everyone at your facility--from doormen, to receptionists, to medical staff, to administrators--are part of the infection prevention team at your site. Through work with our quality-improvement tools, EngenderHealth has found that all staff at a facility benefit from periodic orientations to basic clinic services and critical infection prevention techniques.
• Hang posters. Post signs listing housekeeping schedules for the different areas of your facility where they are easily viewed by cleaning staff and their supervisors. If you like, you may print out the following materials for posting at your facility (click on the "back" button on your browser to return to this page):
  • Cleaning schedule: Client-Care Areas
  • Cleaning schedule: Non-Client-Care Areas
  • Cleaning schedule: Toilets, Latrines, and Sluice Rooms

• Be a good role model. You can set a good example. If you have housekeeping responsibilities, model good housekeeping practices during the course of your day and encourage your colleagues to do the same. If you supervise housekeeping staff, be sure that your staff are aware of the importance of good housekeeping practices and facilitate their use of appropriate practices.

Back to Making It Work

©2004 EngenderHealth