Bob Kehoe, Health Facilities Management
Each fall, the American Hospital Association publishes its Environmental Scan, a succinct forecast of the major trends that will impact health care organizations in the coming year.

Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
In a recent press release, PDI, a leader in infection prevention products and solutions, today announced it will host a Lunch and Learn session at the 2016 AHE Exchange, held at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh on Monday, Sept. 26, from 11:45 to 1:00 p.m.

American Laundry News
"With the presidential election, protests, acts of violence, etc., the country is facing many issues. Which mainstream issue do you think most impacts our industry? Why?"

Naomi Millán, facilities.net
The flooring industry has long been at the forefront of sustainability, ever increasing the green quotient of its products and processes.

The Mapleton Press
The Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers and Systems for Hospitals, or HCAHPS, is a series of patient surveys that focus on quality from the patient perspective.

Vincent Della Donna, Healthcare Design
As healthcare continues to move toward being a consumer-based service, focus has appropriately been placed on the experience and satisfaction of patients and families.

Heather Punke, Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality
While Alaska remains Zika virus-free, the total number of Zika cases in the other states and Washington, D.C., reached 3,176 on Sept. 14, according to the most recent CDC report.

The Standard Precautions concept in healthcare dictates that healthcare workers assess risk in advance of a patient interaction and use appropriate interventions such as barriers, hand hygiene, and/or surface disinfection, to address the risk and prevent becoming contaminated by the patient or the patient’s environment.

Kelly Teal, Infection Control Today
The medical field has known for almost 200 years that disinfecting hands saves lives by reducing the ability to carry disease.

Amy Norton, HealthDay
Antibiotic-resistant "superbugs" remain a major public health threat, and only a multipronged attack can address the problem, a new U.S. government report warns.

Julie Appleby, NPR
The pitches from pharmacy chains started in August: Come in and get your flu shot.

Andrew J. Hoffman, Forbes
While you learn about the work that needs to be done to bring about a sustainable world, you also have to learn about how people change the way they think.

Andreas Jones, Forbes
You have just been promoted or found a new job and now, you are in a position of leadership. You have a team of people who answer to you.

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

We need YOU! 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.

To acknowledge the ongoing and outstanding sustainability efforts of healthcare facilities - and environmental service departments in particular - the AHE presents the Environmental Sustainability Certificate Program. This program not only provides guidance on efficient, effective and value-added environmentally sustainable healthcare operations, but also provides it in such a way that is achievable within all budgets.

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:
• Certified Healthcare Environmental Services Technician (CHEST) Pre-Conference Workshop
• Certificate of Mastery in Infection Prevention for Environmental Services (CMIP) Pre-Conference Workshop
• Infection Prevention, Environmental Cleaning, Leadership, Sustainability, Outbreaks and other sessions
• Extended Sessions
• Healthcare Marketplace

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 help us redefine healthcare environmental services!

By Pattie Costello

By Mitch Birchfield