Making it Shine | Backstage at TriStar Hendersonville
The moment you walk into TriStar Hendersonville, you may notice the gleaming floors, polished to a high shine. Walk a little further, and you’ll see spotless patient rooms with neatly made beds where patients can recover comfortably and safely. Although it may seem like magic, the immaculate interior of TriStar Hendersonville is due to the hard work and coordinated effort of the Environmental Services team. The Environmental Services (EVS) team is an extension of our patient care team, and plays a vital role in protecting our patients. We went behind the scenes with EVS to learn how they are helping patients recover in a comfortable and friendly environment.
The first thing you notice when you visit the EVS offices at TriStar Hendersonville is the large digital screen with colored blocks of information that resembles a video screen. This important chart helps the team plan for the day. The board lets them know how long a room has been unoccupied, and to help prioritize which rooms to clean as new patients are admitted to the hospital. It also informs the team the status of each patient room to help them plan out their day and determine where to focus the team’s efforts.
Once a patient is discharged from the hospital, it takes the staff member around 30 minutes to completely clean and sanitize the room for the next patient. The exception is the birthing suites, which take longer due to their size and the number of visitors these suites receive. On average, the team will have 25-40 discharges a day (although on one recent occasion, they had 62). This is in addition to the “dailies” (cleaning existing patients’ rooms) and responding to any other needs that arise.
When in a room that is occupied, the high touch areas (for example, the bed rails or doorknobs) are the first to be cleaned to reduce cross-contamination. The team looks forward to these daily cleanings and the opportunity to interact with patients to brighten their day. To facilitate conversation, TriStar Hendersonville keeps boards in each room with facts about patients, including their favorite shows, food, and music. For the EVS staff, these interactions are often the highlight of their day, since they are able to go above and beyond their duties to ensure the patient is comfortable.
EVS plays a vital role in improving cleanliness standards at TriStar Hendersonville. Being in the hospital can be a vulnerable time, so it is essential that every person on our team is dedicated to reducing the risk of infection. We are so grateful to the Environmental Services team members at TriStar Hendersonville who are committed to keeping our hospital safe and ensuring our patients are comfortable during their visit!
For more behind the scenes, follow us on Instagram and look for the hashtag #backstageattristar.