Hospital Housekeeping Duties: More than Meets the Eye

Are you wondering what constitutes hospital housekeeping duties? Or maybe you are unsure of what to look for if you are contracting healthcare housekeeping services? Perhaps you are uncertain if these duties of healthcare housekeeping services and healthcare environmental services (EVS) are the same?

While the terminology may differ, the physical tasks they perform are basically the same. These duties include everything from floor and carpet cleaning to dusting and bed making. Honing these skills is essential for anyone looking to perform hospital housekeeping duties, especially those looking to make it a career. However, what often goes unmentioned are the personal skills and traits required of healthcare housekeeping services workers.

Hospital Housekeeping Duties Require Personal Traits

With this in mind, below are some of the skills EVS workers need to possess to be successful, which are sometimes overlooked.

Time management. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities are fast-paced environments. EVS can help hospitals improve their throughput—the time from when a patient enters the hospital until s/he is discharged—by cleaning rooms in a thorough, timely manner. This requires good time management and the ability to move efficiently from one completed task to the next.

Attention to detail. Nowhere are details more important than cleaning a healthcare environment. For example, because viruses, bacteria, and other pathogens can’t be seen, housekeeping staff members must track their cleaning processes and procedures to prevent overlooking a surface.

Communication. EVS must work with all hospital departments and staff from the emergency department to food service to nursing. They must be able to efficiently convey when their hospital housekeeping duties are complete as well as when areas require further attention before patient occupation is possible.

Empathy. On average, EVS workers spend more time in patients’ rooms than nurses or doctors. Patients and their friends and family will often converse with EVS workers, who are frequently perceived as more approachable than other hospital staff. Members of the EVS team need to be caring individuals capable of relating to patients as humans and showing empathy, which studies show can positively impact the healing process.

Flexibility. Not all patients are discharged on a schedule; similarly, spills and other accidents requiring cleanup are unplanned. EVS teams must be flexible enough to adapt to unforeseen circumstances, often at a moment’s notice.

Value recognition. A trait that sets the best healthcare services providers apart is their understanding of the value of their work. They know the vital role they play on the frontline of infection prevention. Yet day after day, they are willing to put their lives at risk. They believe in the importance of their work in helping save lives, and so they perform their best, always using proper procedures and protocols and never compromising on the quality of their service.

Physical strength and emotional stability. Hospital housekeeping duties can be labor intensive physically. In addition, there is the emotional toll of being surrounded by people who are sick, which can be difficult, especially for caring and compassionate EVS workers. They need to be in good physical and mental shape to handle these conditions.

Healthcare Environmental Services Near Me

Does your EVS provider have workers with the interpersonal skills who perform their hospital housekeeping duties in a timely, friendly, professional manner? If not, discover the Servicon advantage. Find out more about our caring, quality service.

We help produce higher HCAHPS scores, lower HAIs, and faster throughput, which translates into more budget dollars to spend on your business of saving lives.

We invite you to to find out more about Servicon’s cleaning services for complex facilities and to schedule a free assessment.