Healthcare Textiles:"Elevate, Don’t Contaminate: Don’t let healthcare linens drag on the floor!”

Figure 1: Sheets Dragging on Dirty Floor

In the realm of healthcare laundry, maintaining the pristine quality of linens destined for patient care is paramount. Blankets, gowns, sheets, and towels – all vital components of a healthcare setting – should never flirt with the floor. If, by any chance, they do, it's a red flag, signaling an immediate need for these linens to undergo a contamination detour back to the washers.

Despite our best efforts with meticulous cleaning schedules and processes, the floor in a healthcare laundry, even on the clean side, remains a bit of a challenge. It's not an easy feat to keep it as hygienically clean as we'd wish, thanks to impurities hitching a ride on dirty shoes, cartwheels, and those ever-moving bins. Even contaminants from the air have a way of dropping themselves on the floor posing a contamination risk.

Now, let's talk solutions – because every challenge has a workaround. In the world of healthcare laundries, we've seen some straightforward yet effective methods to keep most small piece linens from making floor contact:

1.Elevated Slings: Think of these as the aerial transport champions, delivering clean linens to around the laundry to finish stations with a gentle drop. See Figure 2:

Figure 2: Elevated Slings Transporting Clean Linen

2. Clean Carts: Rolling in with a cleanliness agenda, these carts ensure linens stay off the floor as they make their way to finishing stations.

However, here's the twist we've noticed during our many Compliance Shark inspections – a hazard alert. Those larger pieces of linen, the sheets, thermals, contours, and blankets, seem to have a penchant for dragging on the not-so-clean floor while making their way into large feeders, ironers, or folders. It's a risky dance, with the linens risking contamination from the not-so-clean floor and unknowing operators sometimes even stepping on the linens. Please see Figure 1.

So, how do we tackle this?

a. Trench in Front of Feeders: Dig a trench that is deep enough to prevent linen from dragging on the floor in front of all feeders. Ensure it is large enough and located where it will catch all dangling linen being fed. Be sure to build policies and training for this trench to be regularly disinfected.

· Risk – This is an expensive solution with ergonomic and safety risks. Trenches must be deep enough and large enough or they will not function as specified.

b. Cleanable Plates in Front of Feeders (Our Top Pick): Install cleanable plates at the front of all feeding equipment. These must be made of a non-porous cleanable material such as stainless steel or rigid polypropylene plastic. Linen that is fed into machines should dangle onto the clean plate surfaces instead of the floor. Operators feeding linen pieces must don clean booties before starting at the station and after returning from breaks. Operators must follow a rigorous schedule to clean and disinfect the plates regularly during the production day. Please see Figure 3.

· Risk – Supervisors must ensure plates are cleaned regularly during the production day and must enforce the use of clean booties for all operators.

Figure 3: Clean Linen Dragging on a Clean Stainless Plate

3. Clean Protective Sheets or Blankets in Front of Feeders Covering the Floor: Place clean sheets or blankets over the floor where linens may dangle when fed. Rather than drag on the floor, linens will drag over the clean sheets or blankets thus maintaining their cleanliness. Operators feeding linen pieces must don clean booties before starting at the station and after returning from breaks. Clean protective pieces must be changed out regularly during the production shift.

· Risk – This solution requires clean blankets and sheets rotated throughout the day and is therefore expensive. Supervisors must ensure protective pieces are changed regularly during the production day and must enforce the use of clean booties for all operators.

In the ever-evolving world of healthcare laundries, innovation is the name of the game. It's about ensuring those linens not only meet but exceed the stringent standards set for patient care. So, let's lift those linens – not just off the floor but to new heights of cleanliness and safety.