Hospitals need to remain clean to reduce the spread of infectious diseases. Many people enter a hospital, and some of them have contagious diseases. If a hospital is not kept clean, these diseases can spread. A proper environment will not even be present for patients to get better. Therefore, a hospital must ensure all cleaning activities are done on time.
Making it happen to keep hospitals clean and disinfected is the major challenge hospital administration and housekeeping departments face daily. It directly relates to staff and, most importantly, patient safety issues. Enough proof is already available that maintaining strict hygiene at hospitals is important in controlling infection or infectious diseases.
A hospital cleaning log can help here. This includes a list of cleaning tasks that hospital staff must do so that the hospital can always remain clean. Details about the various cleaning activities and whether they have occurred can be known.
Various conferences, seminars, and sessions have been held to develop universal SOPs for this purpose and to improve the situation. Various cleaning products and methods are available, but this field is still the weakest area of most hospitals. However, the audit teams take strict disciplinary actions in this regard.

A cleaning log is important
A hospital cleaning log is important as it ensures proper cleaning and disinfection of the hospital. This helps prevent dangerous infections and diseases from spreading. When the hospital is cleaned properly and often, a safe environment is more likely to exist for patients and staff. Hospital cleaning activities can be organized in a less stressful way with the help of a log.
The log includes details about what needs to be cleaned in the hospital, such as the floor, toilets, vents, emptying trash, etc. All the cleaning activities that need to be done will be mentioned along with when they have been done. A place can be present where a tick can be included when the cleaning activity has been completed.
Hospital cleaning Log
It is a properly designed guideline that every hospital housekeeping department staff member must follow. Management specially designed and followed it to maintain hygiene and help avoid common mistakes. This log includes a sample of SOPs for the housekeeping department that contain all the details of what the housekeeping department is supposed to do before, after, and during the cleaning of specific hospital areas.
It may be as follows:
- Selection of area to be cleaned, as there are different SOPs for every area in a hospital facility.
- Before the start of cleaning, check for any additional precautions indicated and follow as per SOP i.e., removing clutter, following exactly the instructions given by the manufacturer for dilution as well as contact timing of disinfectant solution, collecting all the equipment required for cleaning purposes, wash your hands, take all safety measures, etc. before entering the area to be cleaned.
- During the process of the cleaning; As a rule, one must start cleaning from the least soiled region to the most soiled one, similarly from higher surfaces to low ones, try never to shake your mop, prefer wet mops, and never do double dipping of mops to minimize the risk of reinfection, follow manual guide for changing of disinfection solution, be careful while handling sharp objects, dispose of waste, handle plastic bags from the top, wash your hands properly before leaving the area, etc.
- Upon completion of cleaning an area, make sure to disinfect your cleaning tools during and after cleaning at specified intervals, carefully launder the heads of the mops, and dry them properly. Sanitation carts used to transport biomedical waste must be cleaned and disinfected accordingly at regular intervals, etc.
- After the cleaning is completed, the procedure checklist is signed by the housekeeper who performed the cleaning and the person in charge.
The hospital cleaning log mentioned here is at the most basic level and can be more specified subject to the setting involved and methods/sops adopted by the management.
A cleaning log is beneficial
The following are some advantages of a hospital cleaning log:
- The hospital cleaning activities can be organized, and a consistent cleaning routine can be established.
- Various cleaning tasks can be delegated with the help of the log.
- Progress will be tracked on the log, therefore it can be known what cleaning activities have occurred and which ones have not.
- All cleaning tasks can be systematically listed, making planning and prioritising chores simpler.
- The log shows the completed cleaning tasks, therefore holding staff responsible for activities that have not been done.
Limitations
Like any other plan, these logs are also subject to some limitations due to various reasons, for example, an untrained housekeeping department, lack of knowledge about the use of disinfectant, and inability to follow the manufacturer’s instructions, inefficacy while managing the time allocated for cleaning purposes.
Cleaners are often considered uneducated and menial compared to other staff, and this affects their job, the shortage of staff, the absence of training sessions for staff, the lack of credibility, etc. Many other factors also influence this procedure.
- The log may lack details and not include the tasks needed to clean a specific area in the hospital.
- Human error can occur as the user/s must often and accurately record cleaning tasks.
Preview
How to make a Hospital Cleaning Log?
The following points can be kept in mind when making a hospital cleaning log:
Format:
The log must be easy to use by those who need to consult it. The document must have a heading titled “Hospital Cleaning Log”. You can include the month or period the log is dealing with. The name and address of the hospital the log is for can be mentioned. The details about the cleaning activities can be included in a table.
Arrange Data:
Data can be arranged in tables. A table will have a column for a date that mentions this. A column for time can be present. A column that mentions the task area or item that needs to be cleaned should be included. A column for the person doing the cleaning will be present. There can be a column for signature where the person can sign whether they have done the cleaning task. A column should be included where the user can tick when they have completed the cleaning task. You can have a column for remarks.
Keep it precise:
Avoid adding extra information to the log, as this will likely confuse those needing it. It should be simple to know what activities need to be done and whether these have been done.
Cleanliness and hygiene are essential in a hospital setting if patients are to get better and infectious diseases are to be controlled. A hospital cleaning log is used to ensure all cleaning activities are being done and to arrange these activities.
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