RRMC via Mountain Times
Environmental Services Week recognizes the contributions of health care environmental services and housekeeping’s role in infection control, cleaning protocols, patient safety goals, and overall patient satisfaction.

Jamie Morgan, Health Facilities Management
Has your health system implemented an initiative to improve waste-removal operations?

Zack Budryk, FierceHealthcare
A Texas hospital must make several changes and improvements to avoid the mistakes that led to a patient with Ebola infecting two nurses prior to his death, according to an independent report released by Texas Health Resources, the hospital's parent company.

BusinessWire.com
Half a million square feet. More than 350 beds. And tomorrow, they clean it all over again. Every day, Environmental services staff members work to disinfect every surface in Children’s Hospital Los Angeles, playing a crucial behind-the-scenes role in preventing infections and keeping patients safe. Now, on top of scrubbing, spraying, mopping, and wiping, they can add another action—zapping.

Jamie Morgan, Health Facilities Management
New AHRQ report gives insight on staff-based initiatives that can help to improve operations and patient outcomes.

Environmental Protection Agency
The EPA Administrator signed the proposed Management Standards for Hazardous Waste Pharmaceuticals Rule on August 31, 2015, and it will be published in the Federal Register within the next few weeks.

Megan Headley, Facility Care
Everyone knows that the health care landscape has changed dramatically in recent years since the passage of the Affordable Care Act, but is everyone adapting to these changes?

Infection Control Today
The incidence of the most common strain of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections has decreased in hospital-onset cases, but has failed to decline in the broader community, according to new research published online in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.

Joint Commission via Infection Control Today
The Joint Commission today launched its Speak Up™ on Antibiotics campaign to help educate the public on the appropriate and safe use of antibiotics, as well as the risks associated with antibiotic overuse.

J. Hudson Garrett Jr., PhD, MSN, MPH, FNP, PLNC, CSRN, CHESP, VA-BC, FACDONA, CDC’s Safe Healthcare Blog
Today, I’m here at CDC with the Association for the Healthcare Environment (AHE) to talk with CDC about critical issues around environmental infection control.

Karin Lillis, Infection Control Today
Hospital environmental services workers want to do the best job they can to keep health care facilities clean and ultimately protect patients from harm. But often there is a lack of understanding of proper hand hygiene protocol—and an accompanying lack of training.

Monique Tatum, Fast Company
This past week, something hit me while I was reading emails from my employees. They all seemed to have something in common: there was a bit of a nervous, overly deferential tone.

Denise Lee Yohn, Harvard Business Reivew
Just as brand differentiation helps attract customers, culture differentiation helps attract the right employees. But while it’s popular to focus on corporate culture, not many companies have a truly distinctive culture. This is the equivalent to a marketing department saying, "We need to have a strong brand"—without articulating what that strength will rest on.

EXPRESS is a 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!

Wednesday, Sept. 30
Complimentary for AHE members!
In this webinar our panel of experts will outline and discuss emergency preparedness strategy and tactics that include environmental services leaders’ evolving role, and lessons learned from the Ebola outbreak, now considered the worst health crisis to hit the world in 35 years.

Bob Kehoe, Health Facilities Management
Northside Hospital and Seton Medical Center Williamson win this year's awards by providing outstanding customer service and top-level results.

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

Brian Leafblad
We live and work in a world that is moving faster, with demands that seem to pile quicker than our ability to meet them. So what do you do? How do you prioritize your task list?

Michael Catanzaro, Master REH, CLLM, CHESP
Throughout my father's entire life he proved to be a man of generosity for his family, friends, neighbors, and church. You can imagine my surprise, then, when I found him reluctant to share one of his greatest gifts.