Hospitals in pursuit of excellence

Environment of Care

While many health care-acquired infections are transmitted by personal contact due to poor hand hygiene, when infections occur from environmental pathogens, the outcomes are typically severe, resulting in serious illness or death. The University of Chicago Medical Center is taking a holistic approach to eliminating infections. UCMC focuses on everything from creating the proper environment for hand hygiene to effectively cleaning patient rooms to implementing standard operating procedures for facility maintenance that effect air quality and utilities. According to Sylvia Garcia-Houchins, RN, director at UCMC, infection control professionals must be knowledgeable about evidence-based standards and regulations related to the environment of care as well as operating procedures at their own facility. And hospital personnel must know how the services they provide impact infection control. For more information, contact Garcia-Houchins at sylvia.garcia-houchins@uchospitals.edu.