Managing and Preventing Outbreaks in Senior Care Facilities
This information sheet is intended to give you an overview of the cleaning solutions for senior care facilities during an outbreak, and utilizes the PIDAC best practices. Always make sure to refer to your specific provincial guidelines/regulations as required. This is a brief summary of the most recent revisions to the PIDAC (Provincial Infectious Disease Advisory Committee) Best Practices Document, May 2012 edition.
Cleaning patient/resident rooms when an individual is on Contact Precautions requires the addition of PPE, as noted on the sign outside the room, as well as some extra procedures for patients/residents with an infectious disease.
All staff entering a room on Contact Precautions must put on a gown and gloves on entering the room, and must remove them and perform hand hygiene on leaving the room. Sufficient time must be allowed for cleaning and disinfection of rooms of patients/residents on Contact Precautions. Protocols for cleaning must include cleaning of portable isolation carts or built in holders used for PPE.
Procedure for Cleaning Rooms of Patients/Residents on Contact Precautions
Daily Cleaning
In addition to the procedure for daily routine cleaning:
- Use a fresh bucket and mop head (dust mop and wet mop) for each room (and only for that room)
- After cleaning, apply Vangard to all surfaces in the room and ensure sufficient contact time (10 minutes) with the disinfectant.
Discharge/Transfer Cleaning (Terminal Cleaning)
In addition to the procedure for routine discharge/transfer cleaning:
- Remove all dirty/used items (e.g. suction container, disposable items).
- Remove curtains (privacy, window, shower) before starting to clean the room.
- Discard soap, toilet paper, paper towels, glove box, and toilet brush.
- Use fresh cloths, mop, supplies and solutions to clean the room.
- Use several cloths to clean a room. Use each cloth one time only, do not dip a cloth back into disinfectant solution after use to re-use on another surface. DO NOT RE-USE CLOTHS.
- Clean and disinfect all surfaces and allow for the appropriate contact time with Vangard.
Recommendation for C. difficile contamination:
- Twice daily cleaning and disinfection of patient/resident room using Vangard or sporicidal agent.
- Twice daily cleaning and disinfection of patient/resident bathroom using a sporicidal agent.
- If using a QUAT for cleaning, thorough rinsing before applying a hydrogen peroxide disinfecting agent is required.
