The American Dental Association is the nation’s largest professional association for dentists. They provide their members with all sorts of guidance, from clinical treatment, equipment recommendations, practice management, hiring and staffing, and more. As a medical office cleaning company, we were thrilled by their recent message focused on office cleanliness.
Here are the highlights from the message we thought were of interest:
Some Cleaning Tasks are Reserved for Medical Office Staff
Specifically, a medical office cleaning company does not and should not clean any clinical equipment. Dental offices have lots of specialized technology that must be maintained in a very specific way to ensure patient safety. The ADA says that the cleaning and care of this equipment should be provided by the medical office staff, and not by any third party commercial cleaning vendor.
Additionally, the ADA recommends office staff have some role in making sure restrooms are adequately stocked and the public areas are always kept in a way that meets patient expectations.
Medical Office Cleaning Teams Do A Lot to Keep the Practice Running Smoothly
The ADA expert, Dr. Koehne, explained that many dental practice owners choose to hire an outside company to handle regular cleaning of hard surfaces like floors, cabinetry, countertops, sinks, handles, switches and more.
The upsides to hiring an outside cleaning service, he said, include not having to add additional staff, staff time or involvement for the major tasks involved in environmental cleaning; not having to purchase any specialized cleaning equipment; and scheduling the cleaning crew to work after hours at the practice’s convenience.
As a medical office cleaning company, we would add that during times of high demand, or when a practice is experiences short-staffing, the medical office cleaning crew is there to handle the tasks that the office staff is just too overwhelmed to deal with. For example, keeping restrooms stocked with toilet paper, trash bag liners, and other supplies.