Having a clean medical office isn’t just for show—it’s also about keeping your patients safe at all times. Patients are vulnerable to contracting various diseases and infections from other patients. This is especially true since they have a weaker immune system, making them vulnerable to diseases and infections. Therefore, you have to ensure that your employees meet the cleaning standards of your healthcare office.
Although addressing patients’ needs is your top priority, you also want to ensure that your office is clean and welcoming. This creates a positive impression on your patients, making them aware of how serious you are in meeting their medical needs. Check here for more details.
So, where should you start? In this article, you’ll discover some helpful tips to keep your medical office clean at all times.
1. Sanitize High-Traffic Vicinities
High-traffic areas such as office furniture and other surfaces are typically exposed to dust mites, viruses, bacteria, and other contaminants. Medical staff must ensure to clean and sanitize them as often as possible to maintain cleanliness and prevent the spread of infections and diseases.
In medical offices, high-traffic areas include:
- faucets
- sinks
- drawer and door handles
- cabinets
- chairs
- specialty rooms, including suturing and x-ray facilities
When it comes to the reception area, focus on commonly used objects such as mobile devices, folders, documents, computers, keyboards, clipboards, and counters.
You can clean these areas by wiping them down with clean fabrics and disinfectants. Spray the disinfectant across the surfaces and let it sit for a couple of minutes. Then, wipe them down using a dry, clean cloth.
2. Use Medical-Grade Gloves
Gloves don’t just protect your hands when dealing with patients and medical equipment. They also prevent the spread of diseases and infections due to cross-contamination.
Cross-contamination occurs when you touch a potentially-infected object and accidentally touch another one without cleaning or sanitizing your hands. This allows microbes to jump from one surface to another, putting involved individuals at risk of complications and infections.
When buying gloves, make sure they’re medical-grade to prevent unwanted skin reactions such as rashes and itchiness. Also, immediately throw them out after each use. They’re disposable and mustn’t be reused to prevent contamination.
3. Dispose Of Used Medical Supplies Properly
Medical supplies such as vials and needles must be properly disposed of after use to prevent the spread of diseases and infections. One way to dispose of them is by throwing them out in the trash. However, this can cause health risks and complications.
Throwing used needles and other sharp objects in the trash may hurt others, especially those taking care of your waste. The same goes for used or unused medications. These can harm people who might take them carelessly.
Instead of throwing them in the trash, take them to the nearest medical waste facility. These facilities know how to dispose of medical supplies properly. They also have special containers for medical waste and sharp objects.
If your medical office is located inside the hospital, you can use their incineration equipment to get rid of your medical waste. Hospitals can incinerate used medical supplies in a controlled environment. This ensures that no one will be harmed during the process.
4. Keep Your Restrooms Clean
This may seem obvious, but unfortunately, many offices forget to clean their restrooms regularly, especially when there are many patients to attend to.
The cleanliness of restrooms reflects how you manage your office. If such areas are filthy, do you think people will come back? Probably not. After all, who would want to be treated in a medical office where simple cleaning methods aren’t utilized and implemented strictly?
That said, you want your restrooms to be clean and sanitized at all times. Create a regular cleaning schedule for disinfecting surfaces and cleaning countertops. Twice a day might be enough, one in the afternoon and the other before closing.
Also, keep your restrooms filled with essentials such as paper towels, hand soap, and toilet paper. Make sure they never go out of stock.
5. Reorganize The Reception Area
The reception area is usually the first thing people see when they visit a medical office. This creates a lasting impression of your clinic. Therefore, make sure it’s clean and organized at all times.
Start by removing unnecessary files and documents from your desk. If they’re still necessary, convert them into digital files instead. You can also use a file organizer to store them properly. After clearing up your desks, wipe the area where patients fill out the forms and other materials given to them. Make sure to sanitize it as regularly as possible to prevent the spread of infections and diseases.
Also, don’t forget to look presentable in front of your patients. You want to show them that you can be trusted and are serious about treating them.
6. Dust Your Surfaces
When dust piles up on your surfaces, people might question your attitude towards cleanliness. They might perceive you as someone who doesn’t know the importance of cleanliness and its impact on the safety of your patients.
Accumulated dust particles can trigger and develop respiratory problems such as allergies, asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and pneumoconiosis. Dust can also carry disease-causing microbes and spread diseases in the air.
Frequent dusting effectively reduces dust buildups and prevents pathogens from being carried into the air. However, never use feather dusters when dusting. These traditional cleaning tools don’t actually eliminate dust particles but spread them everywhere.
Instead of using feather dusters, wipe all surfaces down with a dampened cloth (a microfiber one would be better). You can also use a handheld vacuum device to get rid of dust particles effectively.
Final Words
Having a clean medical office is important. It creates a positive impression about you and keeps your patients safe from contracting new infections and diseases. You’ll need to sanitize high-traffic areas, wear medical-grade gloves, dispose of medical supplies properly, maintain a clean restroom, keep the reception area organized, and remove dust on all surfaces. This way, you can be sure that your medical office is clean and ready for business.
