Beth Burmahl, Health Facilities Management
Health facilities professionals know that creating a safe environment for patients is vastly more complicated than just implementing effective hand-hygiene programs and installing seamless epoxy flooring to prevent slips and falls.

Jamie Morgan, Health Facilities Management
U.S. health systems have reduced hospital-acquired conditions (HAC) 17 percent from 2010 to 2014, saving $19.8 billion in health care costs, according to a new report. The decline means that there were 2.1 million fewer cases of HACs than if the 2010 rate of 145 incidents per 1,000 discharges remained steady.

Nicholas Watkins and Zishan Siddiqui, Healthcare Design
U.S. health care construction continues to move steadily along at the reliable pace of $38 billion to $42 billion a year. Harder to quantify is the value of health care design – particularly its influence on patient satisfaction.

Charles Gilbert and Meg Whynot-Young, FacilityCare
Three months before the Legionnaires’ outbreak in the Bronx, James Rouse’s family and doctors were sure that the 52-year-old music teacher was going to recover from his recent illness. He had been suffering from a slight fever and general malaise and was subsequently admitted to Beth Israel Medical Center in the Bronx.

Bart Foster, Pest Control Technology
In areas where imported fire ants are found there is always a risk of fire ants entering buildings. With health-care facilities, there is the added risk of fire ants stinging patients who are unable to move or alert others that they need help.

Jamie Morgan, Health Facilities Management
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) unveiled a new webpage developed to provide employers and workers with strategies and tools to prevent workplace violence in health care settings.

Infection Control Today
TRSA, a global textile services trade association, today released a 13-minute best practices training video – The 6Cs: Handling Soiled Linen in a Healthcare Environment – developed specially for nurses, environmental services personnel, housekeepers, and others who may contact soiled linen in a health care environment.

Infection Control Today
Fresh-Aire UV, a manufacturer of ultraviolet (UV) light disinfection for HVAC and ice machine equipment, introduces a UV light system designed for eliminating unhealthy, maintenance-intensive biological contaminants in health care industry compact countertop ice flakers and water dispensers.

Shannon Barnet, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
There are many high-tech tools on the market designed to improve hand hygiene compliance, but one hospital was able to achieve improved compliance using less conventional methods – exposing workers and visitors to a citrusy smell and imagery of a man's staring eyes.

Shannon Barnet, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
In a joint statement published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology and the Society for Health Epidemiology of America explored how the organizations can collaborate to address infection control issues in 2016.

Mike Templeman, Forbes
In theory, establishing thought leadership seems so simple. The Internet is littered with articles aiming to teach avid marketers how to establish themselves as credible leaders within their industry. Blog posts, webinars, podcasts, and many other channels are touted as keys to becoming a thought leader and gaining consumer trust.

Adam Galinsky and Maurice Schweitzer, Fast Company
Psychiatrists and therapists face a daunting challenge. They usually have only a short time after first meeting a patient to earn their trust. Showcasing expertise and credentials helps in that process, but it only goes so far.

Thursday, December 10
In the program participants evaluate the safe use of chemical, with a focus on OSHA, safety profiles, SDS, and staff training.

Cost
AHE Members: Free; Non-Members: $59

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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.

Gail Fraine, RN, MMHC, BSN, CIC, EXPLORE magazine
As director of infection prevention at Ascension Health St. Thomas Midtown in Nashville, I describe the relationship between our team of infection preventionists (IPs) and environmental services as minimizing risk and increasing safety when it comes to preventing disease transmission.

Q&A with Terri Nelson, RN, MA, EXPLORE magazine
We asked Terri Nelson, RN, MA, value analysis manager with Mayo Clinic, a few questions about selecting the best health care textile products.