Small Animal Clinic Exam Room Cleaning

Purpose/ Applicability: Rooms dedicated for use as consultation or examination rooms in the Small Animal Clinic must be cleaned and made free of potential primary pathogens prior to use by persons and patients.

 
Scope:

All consultation/examination rooms in the Small Animal Clinic will be clean and presentable prior to being used for patient examination or client interaction. 

All rooms used for these purposes will be cleaned by the Veterinary Teaching Hospital (VTH) personnel (students, staff, faculty) immediately following the client/patient vacating the room.

The Small Animal Caretaker staff will be notified when a room is considered contaminated with an infectious disease agent.  The room will not be used until completely disinfected by the Caretaker staff.

Examination and consultation rooms assigned to a specific VTH service are the responsibility of the assigned service to keep clean and stocked

Definition(s):

• Clean – free of organic debris and clutter, with a reasonable expectation of being free of primary infectious pathogens.
• Disinfected – the application of a solution with pathogen-neutralizing properties that removes potential pathogens from surfaces.
• Primary Infectious Pathogens – pathogens known to cause disease in humans or animals without predisposing factors.

Equipment:

• Exam gloves
• Disinfecting wipes containing ammonium chloride (0.14%) or alcohol (70%)
• Nolvasan (chlorhexidine) or Rescue (0.5% hydrogen peroxide ) solution in spray bottle
• Paper towels
• Waste receptacle

Procedure:

Patient Care Use

1. Don disposable exam gloves.
2. Physically remove any organic debris from surfaces and dispose in waste receptacle.
3. Apply disinfectant to surfaces that have been contacted by person(s) or animal(s).
   1. Spray examination table with chlorhexidine solution or Rescue spray after used by patient and wipe clean.  Leave a moist residue on the table to air dry.
   2. Spray equipment used in patient exam with chlorhexidine solution or Rescue and wipe clean.
   3. Wipe chairs and surfaces touched by client with disinfectant wipe.  Allow surfaces to air dry.
4. Dispose paper towels and/or disinfectant wipes, and disposable gloves in waste receptacle.
5. Return exam room sign to client services to indicate room is ready for next use.

General Maintenance

• Cleaning of other general surfaces and stocking of supplies will also be performed routinely by the technician (or other staff member) of service assigned to the room.

• Daily Maintenance: clean and sanitize all touchable surfaces, stock supplies such as facial tissues, exam gloves, hand sanitizer, hand soap (if sink in room), disinfecting wipes, chlorhexidine solution, Rescue spray, pick up and return any items that do not belong in the exam room.
• Weekly Maintenance: Clean countertops, computer stands, ledges (i.e. window, counter, electrical outlets, view boxes, frames, etc.), table bases, dry erase boards and trays, fill cleaning bottles.