Neal Lorenzi, Health Facilities Management
Low noise levels, ergonomics, maneuverability and ease of use are some of the variables that health care facilities managers need to consider when selecting floor cleaning equipment. They also should seek out equipment that can handle a variety of hospital flooring challenges as well as water conservation features that provide hygienic results.

Consumer Reports via Infection Control Today
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)'s Safe Healthcare blog, Consumer Reports editor Teresa Carr discusses the 2015 Consumer Reports hospital ratings, which are based on a variety of safety and quality measures, such as readmission and mortality rates, as well as certain infections, including those due to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile bacteria.

James Calder, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
When you talk about patient care in health care, some people still don't get it. When you boil it down it becomes common sense. However, one thing that I don't understand is when health care organizations don't see the value in putting patient care as the number one priority.

Robert Herriman, Outbreak News Today
New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio announced that because Legionnaires’ Disease has been a persistent public health threat for years in NYC and elsewhere, a more systemic solution is required to prevent the cycle of these outbreaks from continuing.

Jamie Morgan, Health Facilities Management
Early results from our 2015 Health Care Facilities Sustainable Operations Survey detail the No. 1 challenge in implementing sustainability initiatives.

Jamie Morgan, Health Facilities Management
Vermont Psychiatric Hospital and Mayo Health Clinic recognized by international and national competition for design excellence.

Faciility Care via National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health
In a study beginning this fall, researchers with the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) will work with outside investigators to study the types of exposures and the levels at which cleaning products trigger asthma and other respiratory and irritant symptoms in hospital workers.

J. Darrel Hicks, Outbreak News Today
In our world today, but especially in health care, there are few if any, tenets as impervious to overstatement as the importance of cleanliness. A facility might appear to be ‘clean’ and not be safe and disinfected. However, IF the facility is safe and disinfected, it is clean, too.

Marilyn Hanchett, RN, MA, CIC, Infection Control Today
The need for infection prevention, as a multidisciplinary function, is a longstanding and widely acknowledged component of safe health care.

Heather Punke, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
A trial in the West African nation of Guinea has shown an Ebola vaccine developed by Merck and NewLink Genetics offers 100 percent protection after 10 days, according to a Reuters and CNBC.com report.

Infection Control Today
By coordinating with state health departments and communicating with each other about patients with C. difficile and antibiotic-resistant infections, hospitals, long-term acute-care facilities and nursing homes could reduce the number of such hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) by an estimated 619,000 cases in the next five years, a new CDC-led report has found.

Shannon Barnet, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
Clostridium difficile infections in hospitalized patients is generally attributed to the current stay, but being colonized with a toxin-producing strain of C. diff upon admission may increase the risk of subsequent CDI, according to a study published in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

Healthy Facilities Institute®
The Healthy Facilities Institute (HFI) Educational Center and Website has issued a Leadership Brief, Five Tips to Effectively Use a Stopwatch During Green Cleaning, to help cleaning professionals improve and standardize task times while green cleaning.

Jordan Fliegel, Entrepreneur
In sports, we often talk about athletes who "want it" more than others. These are the players who show up early, who use up every last ounce of energy in pursuit of their best performance. Players for whom defeat is viscerally painful, the ones who will stop at nothing to succeed. A coach’s job is to inspire and channel this motivation and use it to maximize the team’s performance.

Keith Ferrazzi, Harvard Business Review
Making the right investments in learning and development programs has never been more important — or more of a challenge — for business leaders.

Sarah Schott, Forbes
Got a great idea you want to float by your boss? If so, you’ve probably spent time thinking about how you’ll pitch your story and build a compelling case for your proposal based on facts and figures.

Wednesday, August 19
We all know just how challenging it can be to work cohesively with other departments. We sometimes look at these departments with disrespect and contempt. Many times the feelings are mutual. When this happens, it is important to know what to do to build bridges, strengthen relationships, and foster effective communication as well as collaboration.

Free for AHE members!

By Heather Williams, EXPLORE magazine
By now, we’re sure you’ve heard the big news: Certified Healthcare Environmental Services Technician (CHEST) — the new certification program from the Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE) for frontline environmental services workers — is officially rolled out, and soon hospitals across the nation will begin the very important and industry-changing work by offering classroom-style training that will transform the role of frontline environmental services technicians.

AHE has launched Express, a new mobile learning platform that offers educational podcasts delivered by environmental services and infection prevention thought leaders. You asked for a learning opportunities that required less of a time commitment and we delivered!

Current Express offerings include:

The Infection Prevention to Environmental Services Experience
• Regulated World of the Environmental Services Professional
• 3 Steps to Better Financial Management
• Important Infection Prevention
• Importance of Collaboration
• What's New in Floor Care
• Keys to Reducing Linen Utilization & Replacement Costs
• Tips to Improve HCAHPS
• Leading by Example
• Lessons Learned from the Ebola Outbreak
• AHE's Key Strategic Priorities for 2015

The new brochure includes tons of information on the new program, its benefits, the Train the Trainer Program, educational highlights, and eligibility requirements. To access and download the PDF, click ‘learn more’ below.