Housekeeping Assistant Specialist I - Support Services Environmental, Full-time, Days

📋 Description

• • Step into a role where every sweep, wipe, and polish safeguards the health of thousands. As a Housekeeping Assistant Specialist I at Northwestern Medicine, you are the frontline defender against infection, ensuring that every patient, visitor, and caregiver enters a space that is not only visibly clean but scientifically proven to be safe. Your work directly lowers healthcare-associated infection rates and elevates the patient experience scores that define our reputation.
• • Own a daily route covering 25–30 patient rooms, 6 public restrooms, 4 nursing stations, and 2 corridors on a 36-bed medical-surgical unit. You will follow a color-coded microfiber system, apply EPA-registered disinfectants with precise dwell times, and verify results with ATP testing that must read ≤25 RLU—well below the industry benchmark of 50.
• • Execute terminal cleans for discharged patients in under 30 minutes without compromising quality, using a standardized 7-step checklist that includes high-touch points, bedrails, call lights, and privacy curtains. Your speed and accuracy free up beds faster, reducing emergency department boarding times and improving patient throughput.
• • Master advanced equipment such as the UVDI-360 UV disinfection tower and the Clarke BOOST scrubber. You will log usage hours, battery cycles, and maintenance alerts in the digital fleet-management portal, ensuring 99.9% uptime and extending equipment life by up to 18 months.
• • Partner with Infection Prevention during outbreak responses—C. diff, MRSA, COVID-19—donning appropriate PPE and applying sporicidal chemistries under the guidance of an IP nurse. Your rapid response has helped cut outbreak duration by 40% compared to pre-2020 baselines.
• • Replenish 200+ consumable items daily—from hand sanitizer cartridges to sharps containers—using a PAR-scanning app that auto-generates requisitions and reduces stock-outs to <1% per quarter. Your data accuracy feeds directly into supply-chain analytics that saved $1.2 M last fiscal year.
• • Champion Northwestern’s sustainability initiative by correctly segregating waste into 5 streams: recycling, regulated medical waste, pharmaceutical, confidential shredding, and compost. Your meticulous sorting helped the hospital divert 2.3 million lbs from landfills in 2023 and earned a Practice Greenhealth “Champion for Change” award.
• • Document every task in the TEAMS mobile platform: start/stop times, chemical lot numbers, square footage cleaned, and safety observations. Your real-time entries populate executive dashboards used by the VP of Operations to balance workloads and forecast overtime.
• • Attend monthly skills labs on topics such as blood-borne pathogen exposure, lift-assist techniques, and customer-service scripting. You will earn digital badges that stack into a “Certified Environmental Care Technician” credential—an internal certification that can boost pay by $1.50/hr.
• • Deliver hospitality-level service: greet patients by name when possible, offer blankets or water while you wait for a room turnover, and de-escalate visitor concerns with empathy. Your interactions contribute to Press Ganey “Cleanliness of Room” scores that consistently rank in the 90th percentile.
• • Rotate quarterly through specialty zones—OR suites requiring 360° terminal cleans, NICU with isolette-specific protocols, and oncology units where immunocompromised patients demand ultra-low pathogen thresholds. Cross-training keeps your skill set sharp and your daily routine engaging.
• • Participate in rapid-response “Code Green” drills for hazardous spills or flooding, deploying absorbent pads, neutralizing agents, and signage within 5 minutes. Your readiness protects both staff and patients from slip hazards and chemical exposure.
• • Mentor new hires during their 4-week preceptorship, demonstrating proper chemical dilution ratios, PPE donning/doffing sequences, and customer-service best practices. Your coaching has improved new-hire retention from 78% to 92% over the past two years.