1. Cleanliness OneSource Article
Wexner Medical Center prides itself on patient care and satisfaction and the staff has been
making strides to improve the patient experience, especially in terms of cleanliness. Jerry
Mansfield, PhD, RN, chief nursing officer for University Hospital and Richard M. Ross Heart
Hospital, explains that the issue isn’t that facilities are dirty, but that the perceived discomfort
that comes from elements such as sharing rooms with strangers in semi-private rooms.
“Could you imagine going to a hotel and sharing a room with someone you don’t know?”
Mansfield said. “That happens in a hospital setting.”
Patients rate the cleanliness of their room using the HCAHPS (Hospital Consumer Assessment
of Healthcare Providers and Systems) survey. The survey asks a patient: “How often were your
room and bathroom kept clean?” The patients choose between always, often, sometimes, or
never clean to answer.
“You only get credit for ‘Always,’ so ‘Never,’ ‘Sometimes,’ and ‘Usually’ aren’t counted,”
Mansfield said. “Most recently at our patient experience council meeting we had the
housekeeping department come in and tell us about what they were doing about improving these
scores. We’ve seen improvements and we want to know what they’ve been up to.”
Patient satisfaction scores have been on the rise in FY16 with 73.1% of patients answering
“Always” and putting the system-wide performance at the 61st percentile; an impressive 10
percentile improvement over FY15 levels.
The age of certain buildings causes issues, as older buildings naturally aren’t as comfortable as
newer facilities like the new James Cancer Hospital and Solove Research Institute and the
Critical Care Center. Buildings like Doan Hall struggle to keep up.
“Our overall goal is to try to upgrade – and we’ve been doing that in some areas: some of the
medical surgical units as well as Women and Infants to renovate some of the rooms and bring
them up to a better appearance – but it’s still an old facility, it’s still the same old plumbing and
there’s only so much we can do,” Mansfield said.
Additionally, a new Patient Ambassador Program through Environmental Services is helping
patients to feel more comfortable and allowing staff to better accommodate their needs.
“They now have supervisors that go into a room and talk to [patients] about making a personal
connection about cleanliness in [their] environment being important, ‘Have you met your
housekeeper?’ ‘Is there anything we can do for you?’ and that’s brand new,” Mansfield said.
David Green, Senior Director of Environmental Services for University Hospital and Richard M.
Ross Heart Hospital further explains how Environmental Services is training staff to better care
for patient's needs.
"(We) train our staff to anticipate needs. Be observant. If you see a patient with a pair of glasses,
find a cleaning cloth for them. Are they into sports? Find a magazine to suit their interests,"
Green said.

2. Above all, the nurses and cleaning staff have proven to be invaluable in improving the feel of
environment for patients. Their hard work keeps Wexner Medical Center improving day after
day.
“They’ve got a lot on their plate in addition to doing it with an attitude that gives patients a sense
that they’re in the right place and well cared for. It’s a big job,” Mansfield said.
The HCAHPS survey indicates that about 90% of patients system-wide indicate that their room
and bathroom were “Always” or “Usually” kept clean. Wexner Medical Center needs the help of
these all-star nurses to help move the “Usually” responses into “Always.” It takes everyone
working together to achieve this milestone!
"(It's a) team effort; everyone is in this together," Green said.