Healthcare Linen & Infection Prevention, Part 3: Building a Strong Healthcare Linen Management Program
Healthcare linen management is a shared responsibility. A commercial healthcare laundry can establish controlled processes for collecting, processing, finishing, transporting and delivering textiles, but maintaining textile cleanliness also depends on what happens once those products enter the healthcare facility.
In the first two parts of our Healthcare Linen & Infection Prevention series, we followed healthcare textiles from the handling and processing of soiled linen through the transportation, storage and distribution of clean textiles. In Part 3, we’re looking at the broader linen management program, including third-party certification, staff education and the practices healthcare organizations can use to evaluate their linen processes.
Certification Adds Another Layer of Verification
Healthcare organizations should also understand the standards and certifications maintained by their laundry provider. Superior Linen Service maintains Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification through TRSA, an industry certification program focused specifically on healthcare textile processing.
TRSA defines hygienically clean textiles as textiles that are free of pathogens in sufficient numbers to cause human illness. Its healthcare certification program incorporates documented best management practices, facility inspection and third-party microbial testing.
Certification does not replace the infection prevention procedures used by healthcare facilities. It provides another level of independent verification that a laundry provider has established processes designed specifically for healthcare textile hygiene.
For hospitals, surgery centers, clinics and other healthcare organizations, that verification can be an important consideration when evaluating a textile service partner.
Linen Management Is a Shared Responsibility
A commercial healthcare laundry can establish controlled processes for collecting, processing, finishing, transporting and delivering textiles. But once those products enter a healthcare facility, maintaining their cleanliness becomes a shared responsibility. Laundry personnel, environmental services teams, nurses, technicians and other staff members may all interact with textiles during their lifecycle.
That makes staff education particularly important.
Employees who handle soiled linen should understand proper containment procedures and occupational exposure requirements. Employees handling clean linen should understand why clean storage, hand hygiene and minimizing unnecessary contact matter.
OSHA requires employees with occupational exposure to blood or other potentially infectious materials to receive training at initial assignment and at least annually thereafter. For facilities where contaminated laundry is part of an employee’s responsibilities, linen-handling procedures should be incorporated into appropriate training and facility protocols.
Small Steps Can Strengthen the Entire Process
Healthcare linen is an everyday operational necessity, which can make its handling easy to overlook. But infection prevention depends in part on consistent processes for routine tasks.
Healthcare facilities can strengthen linen management by periodically reviewing a few fundamental questions.
10 QUESTIONS TO ASK ABOUT YOUR HEALTHCARE LINEN PROGRAM
- Is soiled linen contained at the point of use?
- Are employees minimizing agitation when handling contaminated textiles?
- Are wet or heavily contaminated textiles placed in appropriate leak-resistant containment?
- Are clean and soiled linen kept separate throughout collection, transportation and storage?
- Are clean textiles protected from dust, moisture and unnecessary handling?
- Are linen storage areas clean, organized and appropriately maintained?
- Are employees trained on the facility’s linen-handling procedures?
- Does the facility’s laundry provider follow documented healthcare-specific processing and handling standards?
- Does the provider maintain relevant third-party certifications?
- Are linen procedures periodically reviewed with infection prevention and environmental services leadership?
These are relatively simple questions, but together they help evaluate the entire textile management system rather than focusing only on the washing process.
A Healthcare Linen Program Should Protect Cleanliness From Start to Finish
The goal of healthcare laundry service is not simply to make textiles look clean. It is to provide hygienically clean textiles and maintain that cleanliness through processing, transportation and delivery.
Healthcare facilities then continue that process through proper storage, distribution and handling.
With an estimated 518,000 healthcare-associated infections occurring in U.S. hospitals in 2023, infection prevention remains an ongoing priority across every area of healthcare operations. Linen management represents one part of that larger effort.
At Superior Linen Service, healthcare textile processing is supported by established procedures, healthcare-focused quality controls and Hygienically Clean Healthcare certification. We work with healthcare organizations throughout Oklahoma, Arkansas, Kansas and Missouri to provide dependable textile programs designed around the unique requirements of patient-care environments.
Looking to evaluate your healthcare linen program?
Contact Superior Linen Service to learn more about our healthcare textile services and Hygienically Clean Healthcare-certified processing.