Tork manufacturer Essity has created an interactive training and support package aimed at cleaners and facility managers in the healthcare sector.
Launched in January 2021, Tork Interactive Clean Hospital Training takes FMs and staff through various real world cleaning scenarios in an engaging way. The online package also incorporates a ‘train-the-trainer’ module to educate facility and contract cleaning managers on how to support their teams and demonstrate optimum cleaning techniques.
Thomas Bergin, Essity’s Professional Hygiene Marketing Director for Healthcare, said: “In a healthcare system under pressure, the role of the facilities manager is just as critical in providing care as that of any other healthcare professional. Ensuring that the healthcare environment remains a clean and safe place for the patients’ needs to be a top priority.”
The training takes place in a virtual hospital and incorporates a module on daily cleaning in an occupied patient room, and another on discharge cleaning protocols. Both modules focus on learning by doing and each takes the cleaner through the process in a logical fashion.
The cleaner is first reminded to wash their hands and don PPE before entering the room to be cleaned. Each step of the process is then addressed from picking up debris, emptying bins and wiping down refuse containers before moving on to other tasks.
The cleaner’s knowledge of frequently-touched surfaces is tested and various tips and tricks are provided, such as the need to work from high to low so that no dirt is dislodged, plus the importance of beginning with the cleanest areas to avoid the risk of recontamination.
Incorporated in the train-the-trainer section is a mini-microbiology school which deals with the dangers posed by the microorganisms that are potentially present in the healthcare environment.
The training is available in English and more than 15 other languages including French, Spanish, German, Arabic and Somali.
Tork has a strong track record in healthcare training and in November 2020, Essity won an Interclean Innovation Award for its ground-breaking Tork VR Clean Hands Training app. This uses virtual reality to provide rigorous hand hygiene training for care workers, offering up realistic scenarios in which hand hygiene should be carried out in typical healthcare situations.
Thomas continued: “We are dedicated to helping to create safe care environments and ultimately help prevent healthcare acquired infections. Facilities managers and cleaning teams are the first line of defence for patients and staff, so it is vitally important that they get access to the best tools and training available.”
The training modules are based on the Association for the Health Care Environment’s (AHE) Practice Guidance for Health Care Environmental Cleaning.
