Germs from a patient may be found on any object the patient touched or on equipment that was used during their care. Some germs can live for 5 months on a dry surface.
Germs from any surface can pass to you or another patient. Cleaning helps prevent the spread of germs.
Your workplace will have policies about how to clean:
Start with wearing the right equipment. This will include gloves, and you might need to wear a gown, shoe covers, and a mask. Your workplace will have a policy or guideline about what to wear.
When you remove bed sheets and towels:
Clean the bed rails, furniture, telephone, call light, door knobs, light switches, bathroom, and all other objects and surfaces in the room. Also clean the floor, including under the furniture. Use the disinfectant or cleaning solution your workplace uses for this.
Carefully put any sharps or needles in the sharps container.
When you clean the floors, change the cleaning liquid every hour. Use a fresh mop every day.
Always wash your hands after you take off your gloves.
If your workplace does not have a spill response team for cleaning up blood or other body fluids, you will need these supplies to clean up the spill:
Make sure you are wearing the correct gloves, gown, mask, or shoe covering for the kind of spill you are cleaning up.
Before you start cleaning, mark the area of the spill with tape or barriers so that no one enters the area or slips. Then:
When cleaning up large blood spills, use an approved solution to kill any viruses such as hepatitis.
Always wash your hands after you take off your gloves.
Disinfection procedures
Updated by: David C. Dugdale, III, MD, Professor of Medicine, Division of General Medicine, Department of Medicine, University of Washington School of Medicine. Also reviewed by David Zieve, MD, MHA, Medical Director, A.D.A.M. Health Solutions, Ebix, Inc.
MedlinePlus Topics
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