USA
The Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) is making available a downloadable four-part series on the role of healthcare laundry in infection prevention strategy.
In digitised format (free, registration required, infectioncontrol.com), the compendium comprises four articles specifically directed at Infection Preventionists (IPs) that originally appeared in print editions of the industry-leading magazine, Infection Control Today.
HLAC is a nonprofit organisation that inspects and accredits laundries processing textiles for hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities.
The series provides insights and useful information for IPs and other healthcare stakeholders about the importance of properly laundered healthcare textiles (HCTs) and how these procedures contribute to a hospital's overall infection prevention program.
The articles include:
- "Navigating the Intersection Where Healthcare Laundry and Infection Prevention Meet" – John Scherberger notes that maintaining hygienic HCTs is as important to quality patient outcomes as practicing proper hand hygiene; that ensuring hygienic HCTs is not exclusive to the launderer - it's everyone's job; and that it's not an "either/or" decision when choosing a laundry as an infection prevention partner.
- "Diligence in Environmental Infection Prevention is Important to Maintaining the Quality of Laundered Healthcare Textiles Prior to Use" – Lynne M. Sehulster says that maintenance is the last phase of the overall laundry process of preparing reusable fabric items, and infection prevention is critical to its success.
- "How Infection Preventionists Can Affect a Hospital's Bottom Line with Effective Linen Strategy" – Gregory Gicewicz and Janice Carter Larson examine linen-related choices that can impact the bottom line: whether to choose synthetic, cotton or blended textiles; linen weights; the real meaning of "price per pound"; low-temperature chemicals; and disposable vs. reusable textiles.
- "Aligning the IP's Linen/Laundry with the C-Suite Mindset: Key Messages for a Key Messenger" – Gregory Gicewicz, John Scherberger and Lynne Sehulster identify the IP's key focus areas when communicating to C-suite executives about linen and laundry: ensuring patient safety, promoting patient satisfaction, maintaining health and financial stability, compliance, strategic planning and innovation, and environmental stewardship.
