Back to Basics: Cleaning/Disinfection Saving Lives
Infection prevention is a big subject. During the 2020 pandemic, people were frightened with the prospect of contracting COVID-19 and they still are. Many became obsessed with complicated details or new theories about disinfecting every kind of surface they touched. I believe we should concentrate on simple, important ideas or activities…back-to-basics.
In this book, I employ 34 years of cleaning and housekeeping wisdom, and avoid waterborne disease, disinfection of medical devices, and other topics outside the scope of cleaning for health.
My Assumptions
In writing this e-book, I made some assumptions about you. I imagined that:
You clean something, somewhere, regardless of whether you are a person responsible for cleaning a school, office building, restaurant tables or a medical facility.
You are involved in an occupation that puts you at risk of infection.
Most of all, you want to clean and disinfect to protect human health and save lives.
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Darrel Hicks Bio
Who is Darrel Hicks???
Real life means bacteria, viruses and fungi. Real life means infections caused by
unsanitary conditions. Knowing how to fight the agents of disease is important to
anyone who just wants to build their knowledge of infection prevention. The simple
cleaning of environmental ... -
Pathway Forward: Ten Things needed to Know to Open Businesses
What will your standard operating procedures (SOPs) for cleaning look like when the pandemic subsides? Will the cleaning of your business return to "normal"? What will "normal" look like? What is the pathway forward for your business?
Here are ten things that you should consider when re-orderin...
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Back to Basics Part I: Identifying the Enemy
Identifying the Enemy
In This Part
► Introducing microorganisms and common “bugs”
► Understanding infection transmissionWhat you don’t see can hurt you. Invisible to the naked eye, a world of microorganisms lives in or on your skin, your mouth, on the floor, and on doorknobs, cell phones, wall...
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Back to Basics Part II A (Video One): Infection Prevention Strategies
In This Part
► Hand Hygiene v. Safe surfaces
► Following your mother’s advice
► Cleaning up dirt
► Attacking biofilmAlthough cleanliness may be next to godliness, it is also very closely related to disinfection. In fact, cleaning can avert the need to disinfect in some situations because clean ...
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Back to Basics Part II B (Video Two): Dust Removal and Floor Cleaning
Clean is a condition free of unwanted matter that has the potential to cause an adverse or undesirable effect. Cleaning is the fundamental management process of putting unwanted matter in its proper place to achieve a clean condition. Your staff should understand these definitions and be able to ...
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Back to Basics Part III A: Choosing and Using Disinfectants
To Be Clear…It’s a Two-step Cleaning and Disinfecting Process
Many cleaning professionals have heard that a surface must be cleaned before applying a disinfectant. However, they might not know exactly why.
But before explaining the reasons, it will help to identify the differences between clea...
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Back to Basics Part III B (Video One): Grasping Disinfectant Use
Disease-causing microorganisms often live on inanimate objects. You use disinfectants to eliminate or greatly reduce these live pathogens and help prevent
the transmission of disease. A disinfectant is intended to destroy or neutralize one or more specific microbial groups.
In most cleaning sit...
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Back to Basics Part III B (Video Two): Minimize Disease Transmission
We must start with the realization that the environmental surfaces in our world (even in a patient’s room) will never be free of disease-causing pathogens, although the manufacturers of UV-C or Hydrogen Peroxide Vapor (HPV) room disinfection systems make claims to the contrary. The fact is those ...
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Back to Basics Part III C: Demystifying Label Instructions
Disinfectants are designed for a specific purpose and are to be used in a certain manner.
Therefore, users SHOULD read the label carefully to ensure the correct product is selected for the intended use and applied correctly. US Federal law requires all applicable label instruction on EPA-regist...
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Back to Basics Part III D: Target Practice Where to Disinfect & Using with Care
Disease-causing microorganisms often live on inanimate objects (AKA fomites).
Where you disinfect is based on common sense and, for cleaning professionals, regulations. Common sense dictates that you routinely disinfect high-touch surfaces. Governmental and professional infection prevention org...
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Back to Basics Part III E: Selection of the Ideal Disinfectant
The online version of the list contains 535 disinfectants and can be sorted by EPA registration number found on product labels, brand name, and active ingredient; a downloadable spreadsheet version allows additional filtering by use setting (healthcare, institutional, residential) and type of sur...
