Healthcare environmental hygiene: the Moment(um) is now
Co-chairs: Professor Didier Pittet and Dr. Pierre Parneix
Location: Amtrium StageThursday 16 May 2024
09:30 - 09:40 hrs
Welcome to the Healthcare Cleaning Forum
Speaker: Andreas Voss, The NetherlandsProfessor and Chair, Medical Microbiology and Infection Control, UMCG.
09:40 - 10:00 hrs
Clean Hospitals: bringing HEH into the spotlight
Speaker: Prof. Didier Pittet, SwitzerlandProfessor of medicine (hon), Faculty of Medicine, University of Geneva
Chair, Clean Hospitals
Former director, Infection Control Program, University of Geneva Hospitals and Faculty of Medicine, Geneva, Switzerland.
- Healthcare environmental hygiene is the next frontier in infection prevention and control, and recent advances in studying it have cemented its importance globally.
- Healthcare facilities’ environmental hygiene programs are often lacking, but there is no "one size fits all" approach to improvement.
- Organisations such as Clean Hospitals, which bring the public and academic sectors together, are able to help raise the quality and visibility of healthcare environmental hygiene on a global level.
10:00 - 10:20 hrs
Why you should help your clients assess their environmental hygiene programs and how to do it (HEHSAF presentation)
Speaker: Dr. Alexandra Peters, SwitzerlandScientific Lead for Clean Hospitals
Institute of Global Health
University of Geneva, Switzerland.
- Healthcare facilities often have trouble identifying where their environmental hygiene programs are lacking and how to improve them.
- Using a validated self-assessment tool such as the Clean Hospitals HEHSAF can help these facilities identify specific areas for improvement.
- Industry members can use this tool to better position themselves in respect to the healthcare facility’s needs as well as use it to help develop comprehensive solutions for their clients.
10:20 - 10:40 hrs
Sustainability at the heart of cleaning
Speaker: Clare Nash RN, BSc, MSc, United KingdomRegistered nurse
Head of Clinical Products Management
Black Country Alliance, UK.
- Learn why environmental sustainability is so important in all health and care settings.
- The impact environmental cleaning can have on achieving the United Nations sustainable development goals.
- Explore green terminology and spot potential supplier greenwashing.
- Use the speaker’s innovative tool to make informed choices about environmental cleaning methods and approaches.
10:40 - 11:00 hrs
Break
11:00 - 11:20 hrs
Lessons in implementation: Improving HEH in your own hospital
Speaker: Prof. Brett Mitchell, AustraliaClinician researcher in the field of infection prevention and control Professor of Nursing and Health Services Research, Avondale University
Professor of Nursing, School of Nursing and Midwifery, Monash University
Honorary Professor, School of Nursing and Midwifery, University of Newcastle
Infection Research Program co-lead, Hunter Medical Research Institute
Conjoint, Central Coast Local Health District, NSW.
- Audit, feedback and recognition are critical.
- Education and training, often talked about, often forgotten.
- Risk assessments and organisational culture: knowing your consumers, staff and workplace.
11:20 - 11:40 hrs
What’s new in HEH innovation: special focus on room disinfection
Speaker: Edmée Bowles, The NetherlandsClinical microbiologist
Head of Infection Prevention
Department of Medical Microbiology
Radboudumc Center for Infectious Diseases
- Manual cleaning is essential prior to disinfection, even with automated disinfection systems.
- Adequately executed UV-C disinfection ensures consistent disinfection quality.
- Beware of the shadow!
11:40 - 12:00 hrs
Back to basics- Behavior change and why it’s important to remember that we can do a lot with a little
Speaker: Martin Kiernan, United KingdomVisiting Professor, Richard Wells Research Centre, University of West London.
- Changing healthcare workers' behaviors and attitudes towards hygiene practices can foster a culture of safety and hygiene that starts with each individual's commitment to following established protocols, regardless of their role.
- Ongoing education and training programs that focus on motivation can reinforce the importance of basic hygiene practices and can improve compliance and awareness among staff. Program effectiveness can be measured by monitoring compliance with hygiene practices and providing constructive, non-punitive feedback.
- Efficient use of available resources can maintain high hygiene standards and cost-effective solutions can enhance environmental cleaning without the need for extensive new investments, thereby doing a lot with a little.
12:00 - 12:30 hrs
Panel of speakers and closure of the morning programme
Chair: Didier PittetInteractive question and answer session. Participants can join a live moderated session via SLIDO and have their questions answered directly.
12:30 - 13:30 hrs
Lunch
13:30 - 14:30 hrs
Track 1: How can artificial intelligence revolutionise healthcare cleaning?
Chair: Paul Harleman
Speaker: Christoph Zimmermann
AI is skyrocketing, surprising even experts with its rapid advancements. But what exactly is AI, and how can it transform professional healthcare cleaning/disinfection now and in the future? Christoph Zimmermann, a certified AI-trainer with a background in professional cleaning, holds the keys to unlocking these possibilities.
Track 2: Healthcare Cleaning Insights – Learnings from 1,000s of Healthcare Cleaners using a digital cleaning platform.
Speaker: Bill Bassett
This session will highlight:
• What percentage of rooms have not been cleaned across the sector
• What are the average clean times
• What areas takes longer than average and why
• What percentage of room are rushed
• Do your schedules work for your staff
• What extra work was allocated to your staff
• What risks are they facing
• What allocation of reactive cleans do they have capacity for
• How often are you managing without all shifts being filled
Track 3: Guided tours at Interclean
The Healthcare Cleaning Forum is co-located with Interclean; the world’s leading tradefair for cleaning and hygiene professionals. At the tradefair a special ‘Healthcare Cleaning’ segment offers innovative products and solutions by exhibitors, demonstrations on healthcare cleaning in a hospital setting and presentations and debates on ‘Healthcare & Hygiene Stage’.
The guided tours offer themed overviews of innovations in Healthcare Cleaning technologies. The tours are organised and guided by expert professionals of NVZ, the Dutch association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products.
14:30 - 15:00 hrs
Break
15:00 - 16:00 hrs
Track 4: Lecture and round table with international IPC experts | Breakout-session
Panel discussion on what we can learn from different ways of approaching HEH around the world.
Chair: Professor Didier Pittet
Panelists: International IPC experts including: Dr. Pierre Parneix (France), Brett Mitchell (Australia), Clare Nash (UK), Alexandra Peters (Switzerland).
Introductory lecture (10 minutes)
Speaker: Professor Didier Pittet
Panelists will discuss:
• The common struggles in HEH across the globe
• What specific methods and elements can be shared and implemented elsewhere
• The discussion will include a live Q&A session
Track 5: (scientific) insights and experiences on automated room disinfection | In cooperation with VHIG ( the Dutch professional association for infection prevention)
Chair: Martin Kiernan, MSc
Content: Due to shrinking budgets, evolving insights in epidemiology and pressing labour shortages, there is a rising interest for automated room disinfection. In this track Mariëtte Lokate, Els Rooijakkers and Edmee Bowles share their insights on the use of automated room disinfection followed by Questions & Answers.
Track 6: Guided tours at Interclean
The Healthcare Cleaning Forum is co-located with Interclean; the world’s leading tradefair for cleaning and hygiene professionals. At the tradefair a special ‘Healthcare Cleaning’ segment offers innovative products and solutions by exhibitors, demonstrations on healthcare cleaning in a hospital setting and presentations and debates on ‘Healthcare & Hygiene Stage’.
The guided tours offer themed overviews of innovations in Healthcare Cleaning technologies. The tours are organised and guided by expert professionals of NVZ, the Dutch association for Soaps, Detergents and Maintenance Products.
* programme subject to change
** accreditation for VHIG members applied for
** accreditation for VHIG members applied for
The HCF programme is developed in close cooperation with Clean Hospitals®.
The HCF plenary programme explores the current state of the art knowledge on healthcare environmental hygiene, as well as its future development. The coffee and lunch breaks provide possibilities to discuss and network with delegates and keynote speakers. In the afternoon, several tracks allow for deeper exploration into a number of key topics. Guided tours offer you the opportunity to see the most innovative solutions at the Interclean Amsterdam exhibition and to attend demonstrations at the Healthcare Cleaning Lab.