How clean are your medical linens, really?
A study published in December 2018 by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America found that commercial laundering failed to remove Clostridium difficile spores from hospital bed sheets.
C. difficile can lead to an inflamed colon and bleeding patches of tissue, nausea, diarrhea, fever, kidney failure and more.
Meanwhile, another 2018 study reports that a substantial number of hospital linens have tested positive for a kind of toxic mold. In immunocompromised patients, this type of dangerous mold can manifest in a broad range of ways including pulmonary, gastrointestinal, and rhinocerebral infections.
If there’s anything that these incidents and studies prove, it’s that medical linens require highly technical laundry processing – something that takes a specialist to achieve. And we’ve got some tips on how to help you find the right medical linen service for your facility.
Qualities You Need in a Medical Linen Provider
1. Experience
No amount of technology or technical accreditation can come close to the advantage that industry experience brings to the table. A long history in the industry reflects two important things about the company: (1) they have mastered many skills and competencies that younger companies are only learning (or have yet to learn), and (2) they have already proven themselves to be credible enough to have lasted long-term in the industry.
2. Accreditations and Affiliations
A company’s accreditations and affiliations are proof that their worthiness and competency as a medical linen service provider (and as a business, in general) has been checked and verified by important organizations like other industry players, third-party laboratories, government agencies, peers in the industry, etc.
3. Specialization
There are linen service providers – and then there are medical linen service providers. The distinction is important because, as we’ve pointed out earlier, medical laundry requires specialized care and a facility that is solely focused on meeting the specific and often tricky care and maintenance requirements of linens used in the medical industry. What you need is a company that truly understands all the complex aspects of medical laundry, including the intricate and often overlapping needs of various areas (e.g. medical apparel for professionals, protective and surgical apparel, different types of patient-use garments and linens).
4. Product Selection
The quality of linens and garments used in medical facilities is just as important as the quality of hygiene and safety. In looking for a medical linen service provider, check the quality of the products that they offer. Are they made of durable fabrics that can withstand a harsh laundry process? Are they comfortable? Does the quality match the price they come in?
5. Facilities
Because of the specific care and handling that medical linens and garments require, your choice of medical linen service provider should also have facilities that address these needs with precision.
6. Sustainability
Commercial laundering requiring large amounts of water and energy, not to mention the chemicals it releases into waterways. It is especially important to partner with a medical linen service provider that can help you minimize your carbon footprint without sacrificing or jeopardizing the quality of the results they can offer.
Unitex Has It All and More
Unitex is a medical linen care specialist with over 90 years of experience in the industry. We have some of the widest variation of medical linen services – from the basics like medical uniforms and apparel to the more specialized items like protective apparel as well as non-linen facility products and services.
We pride ourselves most on the quality of the services that we offer, at the core of which is our attention to even the smallest detail. This means our equipment is the best in the industry, maintained to guarantee smooth and efficient results, that we have multiple inspectors at different stages to make sure nothing is missed and everything passes our standards, and that deliveries are seamless and accurate.
Contact Us Today!
Upgrade the way you do your medical linens with the best in the industry! Contact Unitex today – call 914-840-3200 or drop us a line here to get started.