Laundry and linen service is challenging enough when textiles undergo normal usage.
However, there are times when goods are used for the wrong task (e.g., mopping up a spill with bed linens), thrown or given away, or several other improper usage situations.
This linen abuse/misuse makes processing and maintaining stock even more difficult.
American Laundry News communicated with two healthcare laundry operations to discover some of the types of linen abuse/misuse they encounter and how they work with customers to improve their usage.
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Edward McCauley, president and CEO of United Hospital Services in Indianapolis and a member of the American Laundry News editorial advisory board, says that linen abuse and misuse at hospitals comes in many forms.
“It includes not using linen properly, giving linen away, throwing linen in the trash, putting linen in red bag waste, allowing ambulance services to take linen for their rigs and for patient transfers,” he says. “These are the biggest offenses.
“Under the topic of not using linen properly, we have writing on linen with Sharpie pens, putting tape on linen and not taking it off, rolling linen up to form a pillow and then taping it, using washcloths to clean equipment or rooms, using bath blankets to sop up spills and other liquids on floors, etc. All of these things will damage the linen to the point of needing to throw the linen away.”
McCauley shares that throwing linen in the trash is probably the biggest loss through abuse/misuse.
“Caregivers and environmental services personnel are notorious for throwing linen in the trash cans instead of the linen hampers especially when bed changes are done and in the OR (operating room) suites where most of the non-woven products are used,” he points out.
“So, it is easy to just throw all the reusable towels and drapes and gowns in the trash with the paper products.”
Putting tape on linen for any reason is problematic for a laundry because it does not readily come out in the wash, shares McCauley. Even if the laundry is lucky enough to get the tape off, the residue from the tape will turn a dark color when the heat of the dryer or ironer hits it.
“Using linen products in the wrong fashion is also abuse,” he says. “Take washcloths, for example. They are meant for low soil use on patients. If hospitals use them as cleaning rags to clean dirty equipment or facilities, the cloths will become stained and not usable for their intended purpose.
“Sopping up spills of liquids with bath blankets seems like a good idea, but again if the liquid is sewer water, or harsh chemicals or really any other liquid spill, the soil level of the water is greater than its intended use and will undoubtedly stain the linens to the point of being useless for its intended purpose.”
McCauley says giving linen away is most prevalent in the pediatric areas where baby blankets, infant wear, pediatric pajamas and similar items are given to the new mothers upon discharge.
“It is also seen in the areas where scrubs are provided to the nurses and doctors,” he says. “No matter if the hospital has a scrub policy or not, the amount of loss through allowing caregivers to walk out of the hospitals with scrubs on is staggering. It is the single largest loss item in a hospital.”
Finally, ambulance transfers from the hospital to homes or nursing homes are a direct loss of linen, McCauley shares.
“Typically, the transfer of one patient will result in the loss of a bed sheet, contour sheet, adult pad, bath blanket, pillowcase, thermal blanket and patient gown,” he says.
“Hospitals should require discharge packs that utilize single use products for many of the reusable items as a way to decrease the amount of linen loss.”
Ultimately, McCauley says most of these issues go back to improper training inside the hospital.
“In many organizations, there are misconceptions or bad habits that contribute to all of these abuse items,” he shares.
“Working with the healthcare organization and correcting many of these wrongs is the solution, but it’s a very complicated process that can be a struggle to be successful.
“Just look at sharps. Every caregiver knows and understands how sharps are supposed to be disposed of, but they are still being sent into laundries across the country.”
Read the conclusion Tuesday with a linen service account manager poll.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Matt Poe at [email protected].
