Research priorities to strengthen environmental cleaning in healthcare facilities: the CLEAN Group Consensus

Gon, Giorgia; Dramowski, Angela; Hornsey, Emilio; Graham, Wendy; Fardousi, Nasser; Aiken, Alexander; Allegranzi, Benedetta; Anderson, Darcy; Bartram, James; Bhattacharya, Sanjay; Brogan, John; Caluwaerts, An; Padoveze, Maria Clara; Damani, Nizam; Dancer, Stephanie; Deeves, Miranda; Denny, Lindsay; Feasey, Nicholas; Hall, Lisa; Hopman, Joost; Chettry, Laxman Kharal; Kiernan, Martin; Kilpatrick, Claire; Mehtar, Shaheen; Moe, Christine; Nurse-Findlay, Stephen; Ogunsola, Folasade; Okwor, Tochi; Pascual, Bruno; Patrick, Molly; Pearse, Oliver; Peters, Alexandra; Pittet, Didier; Storr, Julie; Tomczyk, Sara; Weiser, Thomas G.; Yakubu, Habib

Abstract

Environmental cleaning is essential to patient and health worker safety, yet it is a substantially neglected area in terms of knowledge, practice, and capacity-building, especially in resource-limited settings. Public health advocacy, research and investment are urgently needed to develop and implement cost-effective interventions to improve environmental cleanliness and, thus, overall healthcare quality and safety. We outline here the CLEAN Group Consensus exercise yielding twelve urgent research questions, grouped into four thematic areas: standards, system strengthening, behaviour change, and innovation.

Citation

Gon, G., Dramowski, A., Hornsey, E., Graham, W., Fardousi, N., Aiken, A., Allegranzi, B., Anderson, D., Bartram, J., Bhattacharya, S., Brogan, J., Caluwaerts, A., Padoveze, M. C., Damani, N., Dancer, S., Deeves, M., Denny, L., Feasey, N., Hall, L., Hopman, J., …Yakubu, H. (in press). Research priorities to strengthen environmental cleaning in healthcare facilities: the CLEAN Group Consensus. Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Control, 13(1), Article 112. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-024-01463-9

• Journal Article Type: Commentary
• Acceptance Date: Sep 7, 2024
• Online Publication Date: Sep 27, 2024
• Deposit Date: Oct 7, 2024
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 7, 2024
• Journal: Antimicrobial Resistance & Infection Control
• Print ISSN: 2047-2994
• Electronic ISSN: 2047-2994
• Publisher: BioMed Central
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 13
• Issue: 1
• Article Number: 112
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13756-024-01463-9
• Keywords: Environment cleaning, Healthcare facilities, Research priorities