From the floor to the blood pressure cuff

So, how do pathogens travel through a building?  Enjoy (?) a good article on exactly that, from our friends at CleanLink.

To quote the study, "...many pathogens start their journey on floors, which, according to the study, were frequently contaminated with pathogens.  From here, they managed to get on the hands of patients and staff in the hospitals. And then they traveled on to high-touch objects in hospital rooms such as side tables and call buttons."

I'd like top see a bit more information on the floor-to-everything-else connection, but clearly one's sanitation focus needs to be on floors.  As I've long contended, a string mop, dunked into a bucket and wringer, provides an excellent pathogen pathway from one patient room to another.  Even if the cleaner is changing mop water after each room (imagine just how often that happens), the mop itself can harbor and transfer the pathogen.  That's why a fresh microfiber mop pad for each room, pulled fresh from the sanitizing solution, never re-dunked in the solution, and placed in a bag for laundering after the single use, prevents cross contamination - the mop is fresh, and the solution never sees a contaminated mop.  Been in use in Europe for decades, I understand, and only recently adopted here.

We use the same principal in "route work" janitorial.  A fresh microfiber mop for each small building (often the only hard flooring is a couple of small restrooms and a lunchroom).  No cross contamination between buildings.

This program is also easier on the crew.  No more breaking out the (heavy) bucket and wringer, wheeling it into the building, filling it, using it perhaps for only one "dunk", and then emptying it into a sanitary sewer (it's just not done, and is also illegal, to tip it into the shrubbery, or a storm drain, or a corner of the parking lot).  So you have to walk back over your freshly mopped restroom floor and lift the bucket up to pour the solution into the toilet (most smaller facilities lack a floor or utility sink).

Best to design the job so that it's easy to do properly.