Effectiveness of visual inspection compared with non-microbiologic methods to determine the thoroughness of post-discharge cleaning.

Background: Published data to date have provided a limited comparison between non-microbiologic methods-particularly visual inspection-and a microbiologic comparator to evaluate the effectiveness of environmental cleaning of patient rooms. We sought to compare the accuracy of visual inspection with other non-microbiologic methods of assessing the effectiveness of post-discharge cleaning (PDC).

Methods: Prospective evaluation to determine the effectiveness of PDC in comparison to a microbiologic comparator.