NORTH AMERICA

The Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) said that the strong response to its Infection Control Today series, "Infection Prevention and Healthcare Laundry," is a clear sign that infection preventionists (IPs) are increasingly becoming aware of the role laundry standards have in infection prevention strategy.

"We see the strong response as an Aha! moment of sorts, where the IP community is beginning to realise, recognise and comprehend that, to minimise potential infection risks, a program that ensures hygienically clean healthcare textiles (HCTs) must be part of their infection prevention strategy," said Regina Baras, executive director of HLAC. "That, and IPs are eager for as much information as they can find on the subject."

HLAC is a nonprofit organisation that inspects and accredits laundries processing textiles for hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities.

The four-part series was consolidated into a compendium and presented in a downloadable format over a three-month run, which ended in August, at the magazine’s website. The compendium comprised four articles specifically directed at IPs that originally appeared in print and that are still available in separate online editions.

"At the end of the run, we saw almost 800 downloads from individuals who work in an array of IP-related careers in hospitals and relevant organisations from around the world," Baras said. "We were clearly impressed by the response."      

A link to the articles can be found here:

https://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/laundry/infection-prevention-and-healthcare-laundry