Facility Services Operational Excellence in Action
On January 1, 2022, UG2 began a partnership with an exciting new customer — one of the country’s largest veterinary schools. The expansive facility also houses a veterinary hospital and research center.
The specialized environment of veterinary science (including health care, animal husbandry and laboratory care) leaves no room for error in addressing needs effectively and proactively. From UG2 leadership’s initial meetings with the customer, we knew they were focused on infection prevention and control, the care and protection of both animal and human beings, operational excellence and in maintaining a pristine facility that protects the health of every animal patient, human visitor, student, medical staff and associate.
Having developed a thorough understanding of the school’s immediate and long-term goals, UG2 quickly brought in account director Elizabeth Lanzaro and an environmental services team who together had deep expertise in infection controls, environmental services, linen procedures, client services, operations leadership, health care, labor management, and strategic advising.
Because performance was a high priority from the outset, UG2 leaders partnered with the customer to initiate a quality score program. The new program utilizes detailed job tasking, computerized inspection software, adenosine triphosphate (ATP) testing, black light audit tools and customized periodic schedules that are adjusted to meet customer demands of the physical environment and procedure types. Performance is measured by the customer, UG2 and a third party reported back to the team to create a culture of accountability down to every member of the environmental services team who in turn understand their ability to impact the care and health of the patients.
When implemented programmatically, the program yielded an immediate impact, with a performance rate that has remained consistently high, and a culture focused on the elimination of carbapenem-resistant enterobacterales (CRE) as well as other common community acquired and/or health care associated infections (HAI) since the program’s implementation. CRE are different types of germs (bacteria) that commonly cause infections in healthcare settings. Examples of germs in the enterobacterales order include Escherichia coli (E. coli) and Klebsiella pneumoniae. These germs represent a risk to our patients and to the public health.
With the right staff on board, Elizabeth and her team strategize daily with hospital and UG2 leadership to advance a wide range of improvements:
- Focusing on a proactive/task-based work process versus an on-demand model of responding to issues after the fact.
- Reducing dependency on a medication management provider through a proactive approach to meeting department needs.
- Routinely rounding with staff to identify and address evolving support or training needs.
- Working with key leaders to identify the right skill set for their environmental services staff—non-clinical healthcare staff who work to ensure a safe environment for everyone in the facility.
- Completing extensive restoration and improvement to public areas, waiting areas, lobby entrance flooring and terrazzo flooring in surgical areas and wards and completing restoration of exam rooms, cages, emergency, and primary care departments.
- Upgrading to innovative new equipment, training staff on a customized environmental services approach, and introducing a color-coded microfiber cleaning program.
Hiring to fit the culture, training to fit the program
Elizabeth has a team of 25 full-time employees who were carefully selected and trained to match the unique needs of this customer. They credit their success to getting to know each individual, placing team members in the right position and departments, and providing an excellent onboarding experience along with ongoing training.
“Creating a safe work environment is paramount to maintaining strong teams that work well together,” says Elizabeth. “It is essential that you welcome and promote diversity and inclusion, and that you work to create a culture of shared governance, accountability and respect.”
Elizabeth credits the strong, recurring training with the advancements her team has made in infection prevention.
“We are very proud of our training programs,” she says. “When we clean an area, we swab and test the area to see how efficient our cleaning has been. On the ATP equipment we use, 250 as a spore count threshold, so 249 and below is a passing grade. Our surfaces here are 50 and below, going down into the single digits is the staff’s goal.”
Leveraging UG2’s health, safety, and infection control protocols
UG2 implemented evidence based, data informed practices around employee health, safety, and infection control from ensuring standard precaution protocols and hand hygiene to operating high-performing disinfection processes and UV light delivering robots and to preventing slips and falls. The company’s deep expertise meant we were ready to hit the ground running when it came to the importance of ensuring pristine high-touch surfaces, effective laundry processes, and unmatched terminal cleaning.
The impact has been profound. A recent assessment by an independent auditor afforded the customer a cleanliness rating above the 90th percentile – a rare achievement in health care circles and near elimination in CRE. The accomplishments the customer has achieved by partnering with UG2 have not gone unnoticed in the field.
“Our customer is developing a reputation among the veterinary educational industry for having an excellent infection prevention program,” says Elizabeth. “Other universities are reaching out to them for guidance. They wanted to know how they accomplished such success and what programs are in place. The first thing the university leadership tells them is, ‘Partner with UG2.'”