Medical/Dental practices that are still open, how do I ensure that the night cleaning staff provided by the building are actually following "best practices" while cleaning my office after hours?

My opinion is that I would assume they are not.  As health care professionals we have both a moral and legal obligation to ensure we are providing a safe work space.  Not only for patients but for our team and ourselves.  My opinion is that someone on your team should be responsible for sanitizing your office before the start of your day.  Cleaning crews may do the major cleaning but they have no medical training when it comes to asepsis. In light of the current situation I think it is up to you!!

The College of Dental Surgeons in British Columbia have officially closed the dental practices in the Province effective March 17/20. There are NO dental practices operating in the Province, with the exception of true dental emergencies that are triaged by telephone first. 

As far as the disinfection/sanitization of dental practices goes, it is up to the dental staff to take care of the disinfection/sanitization of each practice, NOT the janitorial staff. The dentist or office manager is responsible for mandating that the staff  is following the proper protocols.

We wrote specific procedures for decontamination/disinfecting and cleaning and are having our nurses do it.  We do cleaning/disinfecting between each patient we see and at the end of the day.  We are not bringing symptomatic patients in to the office.  By the time our cleaning crew get here things are as clean as possible and they wear gloves and masks anyway.

We are doing a lot of visits using TeleHealth when appropriate.

During this uncertain time our office is only open for true dental emergencies. We treat each patient as though they have the COVID-19 virus. Only one patient at a time is allowed in the reception room. Those accompanying them remain in the reception room and given a face mask to wear. As the patient is escorted to the treatment room, they are asked to thoroughly wash their hands before being seated.  The patient’s temperature is taken and they rinse with hydrogen peroxide followed by an anti-microbial rinse (Peridex). We don’t wait until the end of our day to disinfect door handles, counter tops, restroom or treatment rooms: this is done immediately after the patient’s departure. Our disinfectants are the same as those used to disinfect for the hepatitis virus. This measure is not only for the protection of our patients, but ourselves as well: we have as much to gain or lose as our patients as we too have families to go home to.

Tell them to wear a mask and gloves, they should be fine.

I have been a dentist for 35 years, on Staten Island for the last 10 years.  We have been mandated to close by the Governor of NY.  It is the right thing to be doing.  Although providing dentistry is extremely important, the health of my staff and patients is paramount to me.  No matter how I separate my patients, protect my staff and sanitize my office, I can't guarantee that an infected person won't come into my office and unwittingly leave the virus behind on a doorknob or toilet bowl handle, causing someone following them to become infected and spread the virus.  It is irresponsible for me and other private healthcare practitioners to continue treating patients at this point in time.   We have a responsibility to our staff, patients and society as a whole to shutter out offices and help curb the spread of this virus.  You are NOT doing your patients a service by remaining open. 

My office is a private separate building,.Only my Dental office. So my staff is constantly cleaning ,sanitizing, wiping down all surfaces. We are temporarily only open for emergencies and as the ADA sent out the reasons to be open for my Dental Patients..Dental emergencies as severe tooth pain, swollen face, cracked tooth that is painful or patients with deep caries that need immediate treatment. The office is only open half days if needed and is cleaned in-  between each patient and all instruments are.sterilized..We do have the N95 masks and gloves are used all the time.  My office is a stand alone building and we will not have any patients overlap in the waiting room.  Dr Charles Knapp. DDS..   

You can't be sure.  We arrive a little earlier and wipe down all areas that a patient may come in contact with, as well as our own offices and reception area - basically, anything our staff touches as well.  We also wipe down all these same areas after a patient leaves - including the office entry door handle - inside and out.  Since we have many treatment rooms, a patient is not left in the waiting room for more than a few minutes.  They wait in the treatment room.  Hope this is helpful.  All the best.

We do all the cleaning after a patient that a service would provide and the remainder is so minimal that what they charge for that is not worth the cost. I am 14 years in our present location and we do the evening carpet vacuuming. Twice a year we get an industrial steam clean. The carpet looks brand new. The cleaner says that is because we suck up the dirt daily which apparently prevents fiber breakdown. So it just does not pay for us. I want someone to reach up and get the cobwebs up high and in corners. What cleaning service does that? Us.

As for Covid-19 we all all closed in NY, but that would not change the above.

The person who cleans our office is also our Sterilization Technician. He follows protocols that have been set out.