Implications for practice and research

• Nurses must give environmental cleaning the same level of priority as hand hygiene for infection prevention.

• More study is required into the most effective equipment, products and techniques for cleaning hospitals.

Context

The problem with controlling hospital pathogens is that they are invisible to the human eye. From pioneers such as Pasteur, Koch and Lister, who purported microscopic ‘insects’, to early infection preventionists advocating clean hands, air and surfaces, all were shunned by peers and public alike.1 Evidence for the role of cleaning itself is only just gathering pace, probably because it is deemed menial, repetitive and low status - performed only as an aesthetic gesture.2 Yet staff who clean hospitals …