Though only 1% of needle injuries that happen every year nationwide occur in laundry facilities, that’s still between 1,250 to 1,700 incidents annually. HIV and Hepatitis top the list of likely transmissions during an accident, so it’s best to be as cautious and prepared as possible.

Sharps Prevention

Though unintentional, sharps can show up in medical laundry. Injuries from sharps left in soiled linens are a leading cause of injury in the medical laundry industry. Prevention training is vital to limit your employees’ exposure to infectious diseases. 

Here is how you can protect your staff:

Use Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)

There’s no substitute for the basics. PPE in your medical laundry facility should take the form of gloves, gowns, lab coats, face shields or masks. This is a necessity in the soiled side, or intake part of your business, but might be extended to the “clean side” if the need arises.

Have No-Touch Methods of Sharp Removal

The soil side of your linen laundry facility is the most at risk for sharps exposure. Employees are tasked with removing them when found, and need to do so safely. 

Here are two safe methods of sharp removal:

• Metal on Metal: Use grasping devices when pulling sharps from linen or uniforms. Never use an ungloved hand. 

• Shake and Separate: Though shaking of soiled linen isn’t usually recommended, if a sharp is present and unyielding to grasping efforts, gently shaking the attached linen will loosen the sharp.

Have Sharp Containers Available 

Sharps can appear at any time, and you need to have a place to dispose of them. Sharps containers are puncture-proof, water-tight, and easily identifiable. 

Cultivate a Safety Culture

Training and educating your employees is essential in order to keep them safe. The CDC has suggestions for influencing employee attitudes and behavior permanently. 

1. Make visible safety-related statements. 

Safety comes first, and visual reminders throughout your facility will serve as constant reminders.

• Prioritize safety committees. It’s easy to brush off groups responsible for overseeing safety protocols if they have no bite. Giving authority or integrating leadership into the safety committee will generate more concern over their activities and conclusions. 
• Establish specific action plans. Having observable protocols and procedures in place for when something does go wrong for specific departments makes your safety efforts more effective. 

2. Involve personnel from various departments.

One department pushing its will onto others will find resentment instead of adherence for their efforts. Including members from all sectors of your business will make the effort more integrated and effective.

3. Encourage reporting and documentation of found sharps.

Your employees should document when they encounter a sharp. There are many reasons for this documentation, and your employee should know that these efforts are to ultimately safeguard them from future exposure. Some reasons include: 

• Source Tracing. If there is a timing or linen similarity to the presence of sharps, then it might not take much to piece together which department is responsible. 
• Company Safety. Any hazardous material or situation needs to be documented and addressed. With enough information, decisions can be made as to how to best deal with the issues.

Medico Is Your Safe, Professional Medical Linen Service

If you’re looking for a reliable medical linen service with the experience and industry know-how to deliver clean, sharp-free linens every time, trust Medico Linen Service.

Between our HLAC certification and our clean green  laundry process, there’s no question as to whether you’re making the right choice. Above all, we strive for your total satisfaction. Call us today at 800.464.6334 and ask about a free quote.

The post How to Keep Sharps Out of Your Medical Linen appeared first on Medico Healthcare Linen Service.

There are many ways and methods of disinfecting and maintaining these crucial textiles that, in fact, even the CDC does not prescribe any specific laundering guidelines for healthcare facilities (or third-party facilities that offer laundry and linen rental services to healthcare facilities). There is a general understanding, however, that there is a right wash temperature to kill bacteria, microbes, and other pathogens in healthcare linens.

That then leads us to the question: how hot does water have to be to kill bacteria?

The Perfect Temperature for Disinfecting Healthcare Linens

For washing healthcare-use linens, the ideal water temperature that can effectively kill bacteria without necessarily damaging (most types of) textiles should be 160 degrees Fahrenheit. At this minimum heat, the fabrics must be submerged in the hot water for at least twenty-five minutes for efficacy.

The state of California regulates that hospital linens shall be washed according to the following method: All linens shall be washed using an effective soap or detergent and thoroughly rinsed to remove soap or detergent and soil. Linens shall be exposed to water at a minimum temperature of 71°C (160°F) for at least 24 minutes during the washing process. As a California medical linen service, Medico complies with these standards.

As an added safety measure, the use of chlorine bleach has been a popular practice for disinfecting healthcare linens. Chlorine-based bleach needs to be activated at temperatures between 135 degrees to 145 degrees Fahrenheit at the recommended amounts to effectively reduce the presence of microbes and most pathogens.

The Alternative

The biggest concern for keeping up with this temperature is how costly it can get. In hospitals, for instance, most in-house laundry facilities typically use up to 75% of their hot water, making this heat requirement a little costly to keep up with for healthcare facilities. Not to mention, large-scale use of hot water on a regular basis is not the most environmentally-friendly practice.

Aside from its economic and ecological impracticality, hot water more than 160 degrees Fahrenheit is not ideal for washing certain types of fabrics. It takes a really strong fiber, like most synthetics (for instance, polyester), to withstand regular hot water treatments.

As an alternative, low temperature (warm water) treatments are also recommended provided that the detergent, the duration of the wash cycle, and the type of additive used are all carefully controlled to achieve a similarly clean and sanitized end result. It is recommended that there be 125-parts-per-million (ppm) chlorine bleach used for such low temperature washing to effectively reduce microbe presence. Oxygen-based, chlorine-free bleach is the best and most popular alternative to chlorine-based bleach, which is not ideal for use for certain fabrics (i.e. fire-retardant textiles).

Drying and Handling

Aside from using the right wash temperature to kill bacteria and pathogens, there are other factors that are also important in the proper disinfection of medical-use linens like drying times, ironing, and post-wash handling. It takes a great amount of expertise and experience in handling used medical linens and apparel to achieve a level of cleanliness that ensures safe usage and prevention of linen-induced cross contamination.

Specialized Clean

Medical linens are not exactly your run-of-the-mill linens and need better, more thorough treatment than what domestic cleaning or regular laundry services can provide. Because of their regular exposure to harmful pathogens found both in the medical environment and from direct contact with bodily fluids, it takes a higher level of clean that only experts specializing in medical laundry can effectively achieve.

Get your medical linens the best care and clean available with Medico Professional Linen Service! Our HLAC-accredited, Hygienically Clean-certified medical linen solutions are designed to give you the safest linens efficiently and conveniently. We provide a whole range of medical linen products and services for medical facilities of all sizes.

Call us today at 213-749-4433 to learn more about how we can help your facility!

The post How Hot Does Water Have to be to Kill Bacteria? Washing Healthcare Linen Properly appeared first on Medico Healthcare Linen Service.

While some illnesses are caused by air-borne viruses, linens can harbor dangerous disease-causing agents. While it may seem obvious to have a comprehensive in-house laundry routine or to outsource to a laundry facility, you may still have dirty linens on your hands. Just because a linen appears clean doesn’t mean that it is. The naked eye can’t see these infectious bacteria. Because of this, it is easy to believe they are not there. 

This is why, when choosing a laundry facility, you need to make sure you are choosing one that:

1. Specializes in healthcare
2. Provides quality customer service
3. Has a Hygienically Clean Healthcare Certification

A company with the Hygienically Clean Certification doesn’t just claim that your linens are clean. You can trust that your linens actually are clean by the Occupational Health and Safety Administration’s (OSHA) standards.

For a company to receive this certification, their textile items are tested to ensure they do not pose any threat to medical staff and patients.

But how valid is this certification, exactly? Here are three reasons you can trust a Certified Hygienically Clean Healthcare laundry service:

1. Certification Given by the TRSA

The Textile Rental Services Association (TRSA) is the administrator of this certification. They specialize in working with and representing laundry facilities throughout the world to provide high-quality, safe and cost-effective linens.

2. Effective Plant Operation

To receive this certification, the TRSA is not simply checking for a quality end product. They are looking to make sure the textile materials follow OSHA standards and that plant employees follow protocol throughout the entire process. Employees and managers must have proper training on safety and legalities to ensure the safety and efficiency of the laundry plant itself.

3. Frequent Testing

Once the certification is allotted, each plant must maintain and remain compliant with the certification. Four times each year, certified laundry facilities must submit three items to an approved lab for bacteriological testing.

A Hygienically Clean Healthcare Certification isn’t just a title. It’s protection.

For more information on what it means to be hygienically clean and the importance of choosing a certified laundry facility, view this guide by the TRSA.

Contact Medico today at 213-749-4433 for certifiably clean linens and uniforms! We are Hygienically Clean Certified because we’re dedicated to keeping your employees and patients safe from pathogen contamination.

The post Does My Medical Facility Need a Certified Hygienically Clean Healthcare Laundry Service? appeared first on Medico Healthcare Linen Service.