CHEST case studies
CHEST · Put your knowledge to work in context.
The Certified Health Care Environmental Services Technician (CHEST) credential is the technician-level certification offered by the Association for the Health Care Environment (AHE), an organization of the American Hospital Association. AHE lists the program in its site navigation as "Technician Certification: CHEST," grouped under the Acute Care (T-CHEST) branch of its Train Your Team offerings, alongside the Train-the-Trainer Program (T-CHEST) and Trainer Next Steps: T-CHEST. The CHEST case studies are 5 cases and about 4,341 words.
1The 14:30 Bed and the C. difficile Room
Your facility is a 68-bed community hospital with one EVS technician on shift after 19:00. At 13:40 the charge nurse tells you that Room 214 - occupied for nine days by a patient with confirmed C.
914 words, about 5 min2The Closet That Smells Like a Pool
At 22:40 on a 30-bed medical unit you open the EVS closet and find a clear spray bottle with no label holding an amber liquid, plus a mop bucket containing a mixture a coworker says she made by combining a bleach solution with a toilet-bowl cleaner "so it works faster." The closet smells sharply of chlorine. A coworker standing beside you is coughing and has watery eyes, and there is a small splash of the mixture on the floor.
829 words, about 4 min3Tuesday of the Unannounced Survey
It is Tuesday of an unannounced accreditation survey. A surveyor and a nurse tracer team stop on your 28-bed orthopedic unit while you are mid-shift and ask you to walk them through a patient room, the clean utility room, and the soiled utility room.
913 words, about 5 min4Thirty-Six Hours on the Medical Unit
Over 36 hours, six patients and three staff on your 32-bed unit develop vomiting and watery diarrhea. The unit has one shared shower room, four vital-signs machines, and two wheelchairs.
815 words, about 4 min5Room 512 and the Signature That Wasn't Yours
You are assigned to Room 512, where a 74-year-old patient on contact precautions for MRSA has been for three days. The assignment sheet in the closet shows the room was signed off as completed on both Monday and Tuesday by a coworker.
870 words, about 4 min