Did You Know...

...that the Joint Commission requires facilities to post official warning signs and notify staff whenever pesticides are used? This is one of the many Joint Commission requirements of an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program for health care facilities.

Is your facility up to Joint Commission standards? Check out our quick and easy Joint Commission Pest Control Checklist to find out.

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Looking to "Green Up" Your Pest Control Efforts? New H2E 10-Step Guide Shows You How

Reducing toxic chemicals – including pesticides – in our health care facilities creates a safer environment for patients and staff and helps you comply with Joint Commission Environment of Care standards. That’s why H2E recently published the 10-Step Guide to Implementing an Integrated Pest Management Program to help you lead your facility to Joint Commission-compliant pest control practices.

H2E’s Sarah O’Brien sat down recently with Zia Siddiqi, Ph.D., Orkin’s Quality Assurance Director and one of the guide’s contributing authors, to talk about how facilities can use true Integrated Pest Management (IPM) to better control pests and reduce chemical pest control usage at the same time:

O’Brien: Dr. Siddiqi, why don’t we start with the basics. What is IPM?

Siddiqi: IPM is a more holistic approach to pest control. In the past, pest control was very focused on chemical treatments – what we now call a “spray and pray” approach – whereas IPM takes into consideration the elements that might attract pests to a facility in the first place and focuses efforts on removing or restricting access to those elements. In medical terms, you might think of it as preventive care – treating the causes of pest problems versus the symptoms.

O’Brien: Why should hospitals make the switch to IPM?

Siddiqi: For one thing, IPM is much more effective in the long run. As you might imagine, using a variety of chemical and non-chemical methods works better than chemicals alone. The other reason, of course, is that it helps facilities decrease their reliance on chemical controls, ultimately helping them reduce their overall chemical use. Adoption of IPM methods also supports several Joint Commission Environment of Care standards, so it can be tracked as a performance indicator against those, too.

O’Brien: What are main challenges to implementing IPM in healthcare environments?

Siddiqi: The biggest challenge is that it’s not a one-person operation. It’s very easy to let the “pest control guy” walk through with a sprayer once a month, but a good IPM program depends on daily pest monitoring and a variety of sanitation, housekeeping, maintenance and occupant practices. Without cooperation from management and staff, the IPM model falls apart and chemical treatments will be difficult to avoid.

O’Brien: How can facilities meet the challenge?

Siddiqi: By downloading the H2E 10-Step Guide, for a start! Seriously, the guide answers that question in more detail, but in short, you need to choose your implementation team carefully and establish clear communication protocols for environmental services, facility maintenance, facility management and your pest control provider. If these groups aren’t talking to each other, they’re not working together like they should and your IPM program won’t be as successful. On the flip side, be sure to recognize and reward good cooperation among these various departments whenever you see it. If it isn’t recognized, it won’t happen for very long.

Want to know more? Download the H2E 10-Step Guide to Implementing an Integrated Pest Management Program now!

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Real-World Perspective: A Community Hospital's Switch to IPM

Glens Falls Hospital is the sole, comprehensive, acute-care community hospital serving a 2,600-square-mile, predominantly rural region encompassing Warren, Washington, Hamilton, Essex and northern Saratoga counties of upstate New York. An H2E Partner since October 2006, the 410-bed facility implemented an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) program in August 2006 as one in a series of steps toward greener operations. We spoke by phone with George Moxham, Glens Falls’ director of housekeeping and laundry, about the transition to IPM. Here is an edited transcription of the interview.

Why did Glens Falls Hospital switch to an IPM program last year?

“In five years, I think we had gone through three local pest control companies, but weren’t really satisfied with services because they weren’t very proactive. They always left me feeling uncomfortable with them from a competency standpoint. It was like pulling teeth just to get MSDS [materials safety data] sheets sometimes. I wasn’t sure they were up on the latest and greatest in pest control, because there’s a lot to it. We had issues with ants and box elder bugs, and nobody could really give me some good answers on what to do or what to follow up on. They’d just come in there with some spray. It was always, ‘We’ve got a bug problem, we’re going to come, we’re going to fix it, we’re going to spray it.’ As opposed to, ‘What are we doing to keep them out?’ It was very, very frustrating.”

How did the spraying approach impact your operations?

“It was always that way for the longest time, so the staff was pretty much used to it. Some patients and nurses would complain about the odor, but mostly people were used to it. But it wasn’t working. It was completely reactive versus proactive.”

Describe the transition to IPM at Glens Falls?

“The transition was pretty seamless. I don’t think people behind the scenes even knew we made a change until we relocated some of the fly stations. A team of folks from our new pest management provider came in and did all the legwork ahead of time. I’ve got to say it was probably one of the least challenging transitions I’ve ever managed in healthcare housekeeping and laundry.”

How is your IPM program different now?

“The room-to-room spraying doesn’t happen anymore. Our new pest management provider takes a much more proactive approach. Their goal is to keep pests out before they can cause a problem. And, every service is tracked by a computer, so when the technician says he’s been to Four Central and Two North, you actually know the exact time he was there, what he found and can see any corrective recommendations he might have.”

What results have you seen so far from the switch to IPM?

“I don’t have numbers, but you can measure our success in terms of the number of staff calls to report pest sightings, and I am not getting any staff calls now. The number of pest sightings is next to none.”

For more information, contact George Moxham, Director of Housekeeping and Laundry, Glens Falls Hospital, Glens Falls, N.Y.

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Upcoming H2E Events

TELECONFERENCES

All H2E teleconferences take place on Fridays at 1 PM EST

March 2: How To Achieve Water Efficiency Credits

March 9: HIPAA, HIPAA, Help! How to Implement a Lower Cost HIPAA-Compliant Paper Recycling Program

March 16: Introduction to H2E and Data Collection (sponsored by Biosystems, Inc.)

April 6: Connecting Hospitals to Nature: Smart Growth Planning for Health Care Campuses

H2E ENVIRONMENTAL EXCELLENCE SUMMIT!

SAVE THE DATE: MAY 14-15!

The H2E Environmental Excellence Summit in Minneapolis will feature a Pharmaceutical Waste Management workshop, and will serve as the setting for the 2007 H2E Environmental Excellence Awards! We’ll celebrate our award winners, and attendees will hear from keynote speaker J. Peterson (Pete) Myers, co-author of Our Stolen Future, share success stories, and learn about proven techniques for best management approaches.

Registration for the event will be available soon! Visit www.h2e-online.org.

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