The Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) is encouraging all healthcare laundry providers to take a proactive role with their customers' infection preventionists (IPs) and other stakeholders to prevent hospital acquired infections (HAIs).
"We're encouraging our HLAC-accredited laundries and all healthcare laundries to take a proactive role in establishing open communication and collaboration between themselves and their customers' healthcare IPs," said John Scherberger, board president of HLAC.
In the September issue of Infection Control Today (ICT) magazine, HLAC board member Joan Blanchard, RN, MSS, CNOR, CIC, commented on the importance of taking the initiative to break the chain of infection: "There must be a sharing of knowledge and operational details, both the laundry operations and the healthcare facility operation, for each professional to be able to positively interact with each other."
Blanchard said: "In welcoming the IP, a bond can be established that allows both entities to address ongoing issues with desired outcomes. Utilizing observation to follow the laundry progression of textiles in a step-by-step process will enable the IP to determine if there are perceived breaches in the process and can share these concerns with the laundry operator and personnel. In turn, the healthcare laundry operator may notify the healthcare facility administration and IP of concerns they may encounter in the healthcare laundry."
As part of this team-style relationship, Scherberger encouraged the laundry provider to invite the IP to visit the healthcare laundry to become acquainted with the personnel responsible for administering the laundry.
"In fact, the laundry should be open to at least yearly visits from their IPs," Scherberger said. "These visits are more productive when they're treated collaboratively. The purpose of visits is to ensure that the processes used by the healthcare laundry are safe and supported by research, which HLAC-accredited laundries are. Utilizing HLAC's Standards Checklist (www.hlacnet.org) as a guideline during these visits ensures that a thorough overview of the laundry process is accomplished."
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