Cleaning and decontamination of the healthcare environment

There is growing evidence of the importance of using a multifaceted approach to infection prevention, to reduce the risk of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) to both patients and staff. Alongside surveillance, standard precautions (including hand hygiene), and intravascular catheter care, environmental cleaning is a core component of most infection prevention programs internationally. Despite this there is still debate as to the best approach to clean the hospital environment, and the importance of cleaning, in reducing infection risk. This chapter reviews evidence outlining the role of environmental contamination in transmission of infections in hospitals, before summarizing key components of hospital cleaning programs that have been shown to be effective in reducing this risk.