How to Clean Medical Office: Pro Tips and Best Practices

When it comes to cleaning in the healthcare space, anything shy of pristine cleaning is unacceptable. But is spotless cleaning even possible within the four walls of a hospital complex? The answer lies in the cleaning practices employed by the facility administrators.

From daily disinfection routines to expert equipment cleaning and the crucial importance of waste disposal, certain core elements make medical office cleaning a particular job. This article will discuss some secrets to maintaining a hygienic medical environment.

Medical office cleaning steps

Cleaning a medical office is not a job for every commercial cleaning service company. Medical office cleaning requires meticulous attention to detail and has a strict set of cleaning guidelines that cleaners must use to maintain the required health standards. This is why many medical chief officers prefer to hire only experienced personnel to clean their premises. And for good reason.

Here’s how experienced cleaners handle medical office cleaning:

1. Regular disinfection of surfaces

Medical office cleaning service starts with the easy but vital work of dusting and disinfecting. A typical hospital or clinic sees patients of all kinds come and go daily. That means the hospital quarters are often exposed to different germs and pathogens. To eliminate these, the high touch points in and around a medical complex must be cleaned regularly. We recommend a frequency of twice a day. This routine would include wiping down door knobs, cabinet handles, light switches, elevator buttons, vending machine buttons, furniture around waiting areas, and toys kept around for kids. 

2. Schedule daily cleanups

It goes without saying that you can’t afford to clean a medical facility on a weekly cleaning schedule. But apart from the necessity of daily cleanups, once-a-day cleaning often doesn’t cut it. For most medical offices within a hospital complex, cleanups must be done at the start and close of the day. Sometimes, extra cleaning times are even required, especially when a lot of traffic is going in and out of the facility. Medical laboratories, equipment stores, and administrative offices can still make do with the minimum daily cleaning. However, more high-foot traffic areas like the waiting room, reception area, examining rooms, operating rooms, emergency bays, and lobby area must be cleaned as often as required.

3. Do extra restroom cleaning

You’ve got to do more with the restrooms in a medical office. That’s plain and simple. Why? Because patients who are sick use the convenience alongside those who aren’t. To reduce the risk of passing diseases from the sick to the healthy population, your cleaning staff must stay on top by doing more routines than regular commercial restroom cleaning. 

A medical office restroom cleaning would include wiping down the faucets, cleaning the toilet bowls and washing sinks, disinfecting the entire restroom area, restocking bathroom supplies, and emptying trash cans as often as possible. This has to be done at least four times daily, depending on the size and foot traffic of the clinic.

4. Declutter

Germs and pathogens can hide and lurk anywhere, but an easy place for them to lodge is a clutter zone. Some medical offices keep patient paperwork around for longer than necessary. You’ve got to clear the clutter. A simple step to declutter a medical office is to go digital. With electronic record keeping, you eliminate the need to stockpile paperwork. But when it’s indispensable, arrange and regularly dust off paperwork and all the office electronics.

5. Employ expert medical equipment cleaning

We all know how delicate and expensive most medical equipment is. Regardless, these machines used in treating critical conditions need cleaning, too. This reality warrants special training of cleaning personnel on handling and cleaning special medical equipment without causing any damage. Usually, cleaning machines and tools within the operating room and ICU requires the supervision of an experienced medical staff alongside trained cleaners.

6. Ensure professional medical waste disposal

Waste disposal seems like a job even a 10-year-old can do, not medical waste disposal. The content of those thrash bags could potentially lead to the spread of infection to the masses. Hence, extra care must be taken to ensure that medical waste is appropriately bagged and then carefully thrashed. This starts with training cleaners on handling different types of waste from the hospital complex. Then, touch on how they need to sort the trash and mark them for their destination, which could be incinerators or recycling. Also, the waste management company hired for medical waste removal must comprise trained professionals with proper orientation on handling medical waste.

Why you should keep a clean medical office

A medical office is a place people visit to become healthier. Without a doubt, cleanliness plays a critical role in staying healthy. Consequently, this means that how clean a medical office is can inform patients about how much your medical office cares for their health. Be that as it may, here are a few other reasons why you should keep your medical office clean:

Protect your patients from cross-contamination

Patients and visitors coming into your medical facility show up so they can leave feeling better; it doesn’t bode well with your service quality if they leave worse than they came in. Cross-contamination is the leading cause of hospital-acquired infections, often traced back to lapses in cleaning routines within the clinic premises. Without a doubt, protecting your patients should be your primary goal as a medical professional. Hence, arranging for the necessary cleaning detail to wipe out lurking germs and pathogens within your medical office should be a precaution you’re willing to invest in to reduce the risk of cross-contamination.

Leave great impressions

Like it or not, customers would judge your medical pedigree based on what they see. If your medical office is rowdy and unkempt, it can make your patients doubt your professionalism. Also, donors, board members, and investors would assess your medical facility’s performance based on the tidiness of your surroundings. It’s safe to say that maintaining a clean office indirectly impacts how long you stay in business in the medical field.

Protect your healthcare staff

Healthcare workers are the heart of a healthy population. They are real-life heroes, saddled with the responsibility of saving lives; hence, they should be protected at all costs. As a hospital administrator, it’s your duty to protect your healthcare staff by installing the right medical office cleaning plan for your facility.

Keep up with regulatory standards

Health and safety standards in the medical field are critical. That’s why there are regulatory bodies to guide and vet each medical facility and make sure they are up to standard. Such organizations include the CDC (Centre for Disease Control) and OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration). One of the things these bodies look out for in medical facilities is their cleanliness and organization.

Best practices for maintaining a clean medical office

Employ the most effective cleaning tools

Medical office cleaning differs from other commercial cleaning services because more health concerns are involved. That’s why experienced medical office cleaners emphasize the importance of using the best cleaning tools. For instance, HEPA vacuums are preferable for cleaning in a medical facility because they don’t roll up debris; they have suction tubes that completely mop up dirt and pathogens. Also, in hospitals, flat no-dip mops are preferred to regular wet mops to ensure cleaners don’t get to touch infected dirt water.

Separate the cleaning materials

We already discussed the risk of cross-contamination in medical facilities. One of the ways to avoid such is to use separate cleaning materials for different medical offices. For example, the cleaning materials for the ICU have to be pristine every single time. The mops, vacuums, and washcloths used for cleaning the waiting rooms can’t be used in the ICU or operating room, as the latter locations are more delicate to the health of the patients they house. A simple way to ensure that no such mix-ups happen is to use a different color of cleaning cloth for each hospital section.

Get hospital-grade disinfectants

Using regular disinfectants and cleaning solutions is not advisable for medical offices. There are several hospital-grade cleaning solutions pre-approved by the EPA for use in medical facilities. These cleaning agents contain active ingredients with antimicrobial and antifungal effects, which makes cleaning a medical office more effective.

CE for cleaning staff

Regular training is crucial for effective medical facility cleaning. The main reason is to ensure that any cleaning staff taking these roles are well aware of the precautions necessary for their job and how these rules protect themselves and others. Then, the constant changes that affect the health and safety standards within the medical space necessitate continuing education for medical office cleaners.

Mandate use of PPE

PPE (Personal Protective Equipment) is a prerequisite for cleaning within any medical premises. This would include overalls, protective gloves, protection glasses, and leather boots. Cleaners within the general spaces like the reception area and waiting room can still get by without some protective wear. However, these protective measures should be mandated for cleaners covering the more delicate areas of the hospital complex.

FAQs

How often should a medical office be cleaned?

Medical offices should ideally be cleaned daily, focusing on high-traffic areas such as waiting rooms, reception areas, examining rooms, operating rooms, emergency bays, and the lobby. Daily cleaning helps prevent cross-contamination and ensures a hygienic environment for patients and healthcare staff.

What cleaning tools and materials are recommended for medical office cleaning?

Experienced medical office cleaners recommend using specialized tools like HEPA vacuums for thorough cleaning, flat no-dip mops to avoid cross-contamination, and hospital-grade disinfectants approved by the EPA. These tools are essential in maintaining a higher standard of cleanliness due to the unique health concerns associated with medical facilities.

How can medical offices ensure proper disposal of medical waste?

Proper medical waste disposal involves training cleaning staff to handle different types of waste, sorting trash appropriately, and marking it for disposal in designated areas like incinerators or recycling facilities. This meticulous process is crucial in preventing infections and maintaining compliance with health and safety standards set by regulatory bodies such as the CDC and OSHA.

Conclusion

Cleanliness is an important requirement in the medical office environments. From our discussion in this article, you can tell that all the daily routines involved in medical office cleaning must be done meticulously. This means you can’t afford to hire cleaners who don’t hold a high-quality standard in commercial cleaning. Remember that proper hygiene within the four walls of your medical office goes beyond aesthetics—it’s a commitment to the well-being of your patients and the professionalism of your facility.

Want to ensure that your medical office is pristine and clean every business day? We’ve got you covered. At Casas Bonitas, quality above routine is our mentality. We have trained and experienced cleaners equipped to handle medical office cleaning. Book a call with our team today, and let’s learn how we can help keep your medical premises clean and healthy while you devote your attention to saving lives.