ReviewAntimicrobial resistance and infection control2023
Hospital cleaning: past, present, and future.
Review in Antimicrobial resistance and infection control, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 20 papers, 2 of them syntheses that pooled it.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
20 citing papers in PubMed, 2 syntheses or guidelines pooled it.
- Musculoskeletal disorders among older hospital cleaners: a systematic review of prevalence and risk factors.Frontiers in public health · 2025Pooled it
- How long do bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and viruses retain their replication capacity on inanimate surfaces? A systematic review examining environmental resilience versus healthcare-associated infection risk by "fomite-borne risk assessment".Clinical microbiology reviews · 2024Pooled it
- A clinical trial evaluation of handwashing products and educational resources to improve hand hygiene in paediatric patients and school children.Frontiers in public health · 2024Trial
- Infection prevention and control strategies for multidrug-resistant Gram-negative bacteria in healthcare: a narrative review.JAC-antimicrobial resistance · 2026Review
- Decontamination of environmental surfaces in hospitals to reduce hospital-acquired infections: a systematic review.Infection prevention in practice · 2026Review
- Persistence of Biofilm-Forming and Multidrug-ResistantJournal of preventive medicine and hygiene · 2026Article
- Management of carbapenem-resistant Enterobacterales in a veterinary hospital environment utilizing surveillance with infection control and prevention measures.Journal of veterinary internal medicine · 2026Article
- What are the microbial burden and potential pathogens on hospital surfaces before and after cleaning?Frontiers in microbiology · 2026Article
- Real-world testing of the durability claims of a commercially available spray-on surface biocide.Applied and environmental microbiology · 2025Article
- Clean Hospitals Day 2025: the human factors of healthcare environmental hygiene.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2025Article
- Bactericidal, Virucidal, and Biocompatible Properties of 3D Printed Materials Enhanced with Copper and Zinc Nanoparticles.Global challenges (Hoboken, NJ) · 2025Article
- Identification of Occupations in Different Populations Based on Skin Microbial Characteristics.Current microbiology · 2025Article
- Educational intervention on biosafety with hospital hygiene and cleaning workers.Revista latino-americana de enfermagem · 2025Article
- Article
- Mitigating Health Risks Through Environmental Tracking of Pseudomonas aeruginosa.Current microbiology · 2024Review
- Can probiotics trigger a paradigm shift for cleaning healthcare environments? A narrative review.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2024Review
- Research priorities to strengthen environmental cleaning in healthcare facilities: the CLEAN Group Consensus.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2024Article
- Outbreaks in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit: Description and Management.Tropical medicine and infectious disease · 2024Review
- Revealing Commercial Epoxy Resins' Antimicrobial Activity: A Combined Chemical-Physical, Mechanical, and Biological Study.Polymers · 2024Article
- Assessing the impact of a cleaning programme on environmental hygiene in labour and neonatal wards: an exploratory study in The Gambia.Antimicrobial resistance and infection control · 2024Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
1 author.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
introductionThe importance of hospital cleaning for controlling healthcare-associated infection (HAI) has taken years to acknowledge. This is mainly because the removal of dirt is inextricably entwined with gender and social status, along with lack of evidence and confusion over HAI definitions. Reducing so-called endogenous infection due to human carriage entails patient screening, decolonisation and/or prophylaxis, whereas adequate ventilation, plumbing and cleaning are needed to reduce exogenous infection. These infection types remain difficult to separate and quantitate. Patients themselves demonstrate wide-ranging vulnerability to infection, which further complicates attempted ranking of control interventions, including cleaning. There has been disproportionate attention towards endogenous infection with less interest in managing environmental reservoirs. QUANTIFYING CLEANING AND CLEANLINESS: Finding evidence for cleaning is compromised by the fact that modelling HAI rates against arbitrary measurements of cleaning/cleanliness requires universal standards and these are not yet established. Furthermore, the distinction between cleaning (soil removal) and cleanliness (soil remaining) is usually overlooked. Tangible bench marking for both cleaning methods and all surface types within different units, with modification according to patient status, would be invaluable for domestic planning, monitoring and specification. AIMS AND
objectivesThis narrative review will focus on recent history and current status of cleaning in hospitals. While its importance is now generally accepted, cleaning practices still need attention in order to determine how, when and where to clean. Renewed interest in removal and monitoring of surface bioburden would help to embed risk-based practice in hospitals across the world.
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Registered trials
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