Jamie Morgan, Health Facilities Management
Although it’s a comparatively new technology when held against long-trusted cleaning agents, automated disinfection systems using ultraviolet (UV) light have gained a considerable amount of credibility regarding their efficacy.

Jamie Morgan, Health Facilities Management
Boston Medical Center (BMC) recently signed a 20-year agreement to use "Green Steam" to help meet its thermal energy needs.

Carl Weinschenk, Energy Manager Today
Organizations spend a lot of money deploying energy efficiency systems and "tuning" buildings to peak efficiency.

Uri Friedman, The Atlantic
Several years ago, Gallup asked people in 142 countries to respond to a series of statements designed to measure employee engagement—involving matters like their job satisfaction, whether they felt their work was important, and whether they had opportunities in the workplace to learn and grow.

Healthcare Facilities Today
Healthcare facility design can take some lessons from the airlines as far as smart storage and compact bathrooms that are well designed with full amenities, according to an article on the Interiors & Sources website.

Weston "Hank" Balch, BS, MDiv, CRCST, CIS, CHL, ACHE, Infection Control Today
For more than a millennia of medicine, the caregiver's oath has been, "Do no harm." Unfortunately for the sterile processing world, there are billions of microorganisms out there that are aiming at doing the exact opposite.

CBC News
An English springer spaniel will soon be on the prowl at Vancouver General Hospital to sniff out Clostridium difficile — or C. difficile.

Infection Control Today
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a proposed rule requesting additional scientific data to support the safety and effectiveness of certain active ingredients used in topical consumer antiseptic rubs (including hand sanitizers) marketed over-the-counter (OTC).

Brian Zimmerman, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
For approximately six months, the CDC has warned the nation about the spread of Zika, yet for five months congressional lawmakers have failed to pass emergency funding to combat the virus, and polls have found U.S. citizens are less concerned about Zika than previous epidemics that did not pose veritable threats to Americans.

Chris Dall, CIDRAP
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is warning US healthcare facilities about the emergence of a multidrug-resistant type of yeast that has caused deadly hospital infections in several countries since 2009 but has yet to appear in US patients.

Caroline Riseboro, The Globe and Mail
It's been said that the first 100 days on the job are a leader's most important.

Mark Murphy, Forbes
There are different types of work that leaders can do. There’s work for which we feel passion and that propels us towards our big goals. There’s work that we don’t love doing but that still needs to get done.

Plan your education for 2016. Visit AHE’s brand-new 2016 ENGAGE site to learn more about educational courses, podcasts, webinars, and events.

The designation of AHE Fellow (FAHE) recognizes current AHE members for reaching the highest level of education and achievement in both the Association and in the environmental services field. Only presented to Certified Healthcare Environmental Services Professionals (CHESP), FAHE status is given to active members who have excelled in specific areas and have submitted an acceptable, original, unpublished paper on a current aspect of environmental services.

AHE is gathering input from environmental services departments across the country to identify baseline staffing productivity standards. The results of this data gathering will be used in building staffing models and providing metrics for environmental services directors. You can be a key player in identifying and establishing these important staffing criteria for our industry.

Check out these video resources developed by sponsors of AHE.

EXCHANGE 2016 will be held on September 25-28, at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, PA. This year, EXCHANGE attendees can look forward to:
• Preconference Workshop
• CHEST Preconference Workshop
• CMIP Preconference Workshop
• Micro Sessions
• Extended Sessions
• Healthcare Marketplace

Celebrate your team during Environmental Services Week, September 11-17, 2016.

AHE has started this initiative to encourage professionals in the field to begin, or continue to refer to the departments and the personnel caring for the healthcare environment as environmental services professionals rather than as housekeepers, janitors and custodians. The staff and management teams responsible for maintaining the clinical environment of care require different skills and competencies from those needed in the commercial cleaning and general maintenance industry and it's time we address this critical distinction.

Please join AHE in ongoing efforts.

If interested in contributing to EXPLORE by authoring a best-practices article, email Russell Underwood, EXPLORE editor, for more information. The magazine covers all aspects relevant to health care environmental services professionals.

By Sheryl S. Jackson

By Sheryl S. Jackson