Let’s face it – no one likes going to the doctor or dentist. Patients are often sick or in pain, they’ll wait for their turn in the waiting area then the exam room, only to then get poked & prodded. Making sure your staff is welcoming & your bedside manner is warm are just a couple ways to make sure all of your patients do not mind coming to YOUR office.

Cleanliness is another way to ensure the office is a pleasant place to be, but medical cleaning goes way beyond outward appearance. When a medical environment isn’t properly cleaned, it can harbor potentially dangerous germs that could result in cross contamination & patients getting sicker than they were before their visit.

Many offices trust their medical staff with the cleaning duties as a way to save money. However, as a long term strategy, this approach will actually end up costing your office money. That’s why hiring a professional cleaner who is specially trained to clean medical offices far outweighs keeping this duty in-house.

Here’s 4 reasons why your staff should never be solely responsible for cleaning your medical office:

A Medical Cleaning Service Can Increase Your Office’s Profitability
A common misconception is that hiring a cleaning company is a big expense, but it can actually provide a nice ROI to your practice. When you bring in a speciality cleaning service to properly clean your space, your office will not only be more healthy & hygienic, but it will also give patients with the impression that you prioritize their comfort & well-being.

This creates a snowball effect – patients who are happy with their care at your office will share their experience with friends & family. Since everyone needs a doctor or a dentist they know, like, & trust, passing along your information will therefore bring you much-coveted referral business.

On the flip, if patients come to your office to find dirty restrooms or exam rooms, cobwebs in the corners & on the ceiling, trash on the floor, & smudged walls & doorways, their friends & families will hear about that too. A clean medical office receives repeat visits, but a dirty or dingy office leaves you open to being beat out by your competitors & therefore you won’t experience that same patient retention.

Along with patient referrals, physician referrals are another important aspect of increasing patient numbers; but if they hear back from disgruntled (or even disgusted) patients that your office’s hygiene is sub-par, they’re unlikely to continue sending patients your way. Hiring a professional clean team means you can impress all patients with a high level of cleanliness they can depend on every time they visit your office.

Specialty Cleaners Are More Affordable Than You May Think
Many medical practice managers think it’s cheaper to simply task their staff with cleaning the office – throughout shifts & at the end of the day. Although maintenance is certainly necessary while the office is seeing patients, most managers don’t realize the actual cost of doing business this way.

When you add cleaning to your staff’s already long daily task list, you’re creating a recipe for a poorly cleaned office. Whether they’re rushing to ‘just get it done’ & miss an important area for disinfection or it takes them a really long time to do a thorough clean, the fact of the matter is that a team of highly trained cleaning professionals can get it done quicker & better than any staff member.

Weigh your employee’s hourly wage or salary against the cost of hiring a team of specialty cleaners – you might be surprised by the outcome. Your staff is there for other specialties – like patient service, billing, marketing, etc. Cleaning will only make them less productive & efficient in the focus you hired them for. Plus, hiring professional cleaners means your office will look good & be completely sanitized & safe for patients, staff, & yourself.

Remember – you get what you pay for. While budget is certainly important, think about the actual cost to your practice before continuing to have your staff clean your office.

Specialty Cleaners Are Prepared to Properly Handle Medical Office Cleaning
From the hospital grade products we use, the systemized cleaning practices we follow, & the quality inspections regularly conducted by management, hiring a professional cleaning company means you have a highly qualified crew taking care of what you shouldn’t have to.

Patients enter your office with the hope that they will feel better. If the office isn’t completely hygienic, they can actually become sicker than they were before they walked through the doors. Additionally, exposing employees to this kind of environment means rampant absenteeism. Anyone who’s ever run an office with a skeleton crew at the height of cold or flu season knows it’s hard to provide the same level of service for your already cranky patients.

When your office is at its busiest, that’s when your team needs to be the most clear headed & on-point. To avoid an epidemic that could affect both your patients & staff, bring in a specialty trained cleaning service that will properly clean & sanitize to ensure everyone who enters your office stays or gets healthy quicker.

Another fact we should face is: your staff doesn’t want to handle cleaning of the office.It takes them away from what they were hired to do & keeps them in the office longer than they have to at the end of the day. When cleaning, there should never be an undertone of frustration or resentment because that means they’re not entirely focused on what they’re doing & more likely to miss an important part of the cleaning.

Would you ever hire someone to work in your practice that doesn’t want to be there? Especially when the stakes are as high as in medical office cleanliness, leave it to the professionals who want to be there cleaning & who have the knowledge to do it quickly, efficiently, & thoroughly.