Choosing between outsourcing contracts and in-house cleaning services: Dusting off the shadows on hospital environmental hygiene
Due to the growing body of evidence supporting an environmental role in the transmission of health care–associated infections (HAIs), there is an increasing focus on cleaning methods to reduce HAI spread in health care settings.1,2 Multiple studies have reported frequent suboptimal cleaning practices3,4 due to the economic drive to minimize service costs. This drive often results in a focus solely on economic considerations and the misconception that cleaning is manual, low-skilled work, not considered a core part of health care provision.