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During a session titled “Environmental Services, Infection Prevention, and Health Care Laundry: Partners in Textile Hygiene,” speakers detailed how St. Mary’s (a 391-licensed bed, not-for-profit hospital) partnered with its laundry provider to enhance management practices.

Jamie Cadenas and Dan Beaver answer questions about the Certified Health Care Environmental Services Professional (CHESP) certification process.

“Can a robot clean a hospital room just as well as a human?” Let’s look at a few facts by dissecting the question and answering some questions of our own.

Given the amount of time that environmental services technicians spend with the patients they serve on a daily basis, the utilization of a facility-wide TeamSTEPPS® program can actively engage staff members across all disciplines with the overarching goal of improving quality and safety, the patient experience, and also reducing associated health care costs.

Trial and error are hard-knock teachers, and no way to learn a profession. Even “old dog” managers who may be used to learning the hard way can work to stay ahead of the ever-changing intricacies and innovations of their complex profession.

Environmental services staff provide an essential patient service that should not be overlooked, but is most often not recognized or acknowledged, and usually discounted.

Larry Ingram answers questions about the Certified Health Care Environmental Services Professional (CHESP) certification process.

The best culture in a health care organization is a “connection culture.” “Connection” is defined as a bond based on shared identity, empathy, and understanding that moves individuals toward group-centered membership.

Workloading has a profound positive impact on everyone including the client, frontline staff, middle management, financial overseers, and organization as a whole. Of course, the opposite also is true. If environmental services workloading is not managed appropriately, the negative impact will affect everyone in your organization as well as your clients, and the outcome will be costly in terms of both dollars and reputation.

Sue Minnar answers questions about the Certified Health Care Environmental Services Professional (CHESP) certification process.

As more and more research unfolds regarding preventing hospital-acquired infections (HAIs), it is very apparent that cleanliness is as critical to a hospital’s successful operation as any clinical function that takes place within the health care institution.

The new CHEST program is anticipated to change perceptions from ‘housekeepers’ sweeping and mopping floors to competent health care environmental services technicians who are able to provide a safe environment reducing the risks of health-care-associated infections (HAIs) and improving the patient experience.

According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it is estimated that one out of every 25 hospitalized patients will contract a health-care-associated infection (HAI). Each year HAIs are a documented source of increased mortality and morbidity, significant costs for care delivery, and have a negative impact on the patient experience.

Nazar Masry answers questions about the Certified Health Care Environmental Services Professional (CHESP) certification process.

Those who are determined and who work hard often spend a lot of time and effort to learn new skills and maintain their existing ones. They display the most current knowledge of new technology and ideas. Having employees who will improve themselves over and above the company-sponsored training is critical to an organization wanting to innovate and improve.

Colby C. Morris shares best practices for education, training, and keeping staff engaged in those activities.

Greg May, BA, CHESP highlights upcoming AHE programs and events.

Same old, same old, over and over again. Environmental services leaders are required to train their staff on cleaning procedures, safety topics, and human resources policies. Teaching the same topics year after year gets flat out boring—even for the leaders! Here are some ideas used at Wheaton Franciscan Healthcare in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to brighten up the training and get the staff engaged and involved.

EXPLORE magazine spoke with Sandra Rials, MS, AHE director of Education about ENGAGE, AHE’s education platform.

AHE is proud to announce a certification program for environmental services technicians or frontline staff. The program will officially launch as Certified Healthcare Environmental Services Technician™ or CHEST, with an overarching goal to improve outcomes—for the patient, department, facility, and the community.