How to Clean Isolation Rooms

Many patients are hospitalized with highly contagious diseases like tuberculosis and MRSA infections. They are kept in isolation away from other patients to avoid spreading infection. Anyone entering an isolation room is required to wear complete and appropriate protective gear at all times. Rooms are cleaned routinely while patients are in them and then totally disinfected when they leave. It's imperative for infection control that nothing is overlooked during the final decontamination cleaning of isolation rooms. You'll need to thoroughly familiarize yourself with your hospital decontamination procedures prior to attempting to clean an isolation room.

Things You'll Need

• Hospital supplied isolation gear
• Hospital supplied cleaning materials

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Instructions

• 1

  Put on appropriate personal protective clothing including isolation gown, gloves, head cover, booties and mask. Your hospital may have additional guidelines and directives that you will need to follow pertaining to isolation gear such as wearing a special type of mask or respirator.

• 2

  Remove soiled linens and deposit them into the special contamination bags used for this purpose. Check the bathroom for used towels and hospital gowns and remove them.

• 3

  Throw out paper and plastic cups in a separate decontamination bag. Toss unused portions of toilet paper rolls and bar soap. Remove any other unclaimed items left behind. Throw away disposable urinals. Check closets and drawers and remove all items.

• 4

  Dilute any cleaning agents according to hospital decontamination protocol. Wipe down all surfaces with approved disinfectant. Include bed rails and walls. Completely wipe bed mattresses on both sides. Wipe pillows. Wipe the patient's telephone and TV controls. Clean the nightstand including shelves and drawers. Wash the bed table and visitor chairs. Wash any other shelves. Clean the clothes hangers and pole inside the closet. Wash all doorknobs and light switches.

• 5

  Wash all equipment such as IV poles and monitors. Wipe down electrical cords.

• 6

  Clean the bathroom sink and shower using appropriate disinfectants. Make sure to wash the shower door and handles. Wipe down the mirrors and counter tops.

• 7

  Scrub blood and mucus from floors before thoroughly washing them. Go over floors again for a final cleaning.

• 8

  Inspect the room and review the cleaning work you've done. Make sure that all areas have been thoroughly decontaminated and clean anything that was previously omitted.

• 9

  Remove your isolation clothing and throw it into the isolation bag for disposal. Open the door and remove isolation signs and labels from the room. Notify appropriate personnel that the room is now clean.