How cloud-based laundry solutions in Australia ensure hospital bed linen is infection-free
Infection control is a crucial factor in ensuring the smooth running of hospitals where patient cases are highly variable and illness can be easily transmitted via airborne diseases. This is why hospitals should take the necessary precautions to protect not just their patients but also hospital staff and visitors to the healthcare facility
Linen managers, who are tasked with handling various linen inventory items in hospitals, such as bed linen, play a vital role in infection control by only supplying high-quality, freshly laundered, and clean linen. This is to increase patient satisfaction and comfort. One of the important factors that must be considered in hospitals is strict hygiene protocols in laundry management since infections in healthcare facilities are a major concern.
In a journal article published in 2018, it was revealed that contaminated linen led to the outbreak of mucormycosis, a rare fungal infection caused by a group of moulds called mucormycetes. In the study where researchers performed fungal cultures on 15 transplant and cancer hospitals in the US, it was revealed that in 33% of the hospitals, their linen inventory was visibly unclean.
As contaminated linen items can lead to disease outbreaks, hospital owners should take more serious precautions in their management of bed linen. To combat this issue, they should turn to cloud-based laundry solutions in Australia — a comprehensive software with various features to ensure that the linen inventory supplied to hospitals is not only of high quality but also prevents soiled linens from being furnished to a patient’s hospital bedding.
These systems are effective in streamlining linen management processes and enhancing operational efficiency. They also ensure strict compliance with hygiene standards that are in line with the health and safety regulations of a hospital’s local health department.
Let’s explore how investing in cloud-based laundry solutions ensures the furnishing of bed linen that are infection-free.
- RFID-powered garment tracking
Radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology is a cutting-edge technology that helps to eliminate manual linen counting and sorting. By placing an RFID tag with a unique identification number on each linen item, information from the RFID tag is transmitted to the cloud-based laundry software. This makes it possible for linen managers to obtain real-time information on each linen item by type, size, cleanliness, and other indicators.
With RFID tags, linen managers are also able to track where linen items are at all times, ensuring that soiled bed linen is not stored in the same compartment as freshly laundered linen, reducing the risk of cross-contaminating linen.
This advanced system ensures that the right amount of clean linen is always available when needed, preventing costly shortages or overstock situations. It is this technology that eases the process of tracing the origin of the issue, making healthcare institutions respond quickly and conveniently to stop the spread of infections while ensuring the safety of patients and staff.
2. Efficient linen management inventory
Cloud-based laundry software optimises inventory management by streamlining operations, automating tasks, and offering real-time monitoring features.
This comprehensive system guarantees precise tracking of linen orders, minimising errors in counting and tracking linens. By reducing operational complexities, the software mitigates the risk of mixing contaminated linens with clean ones, thereby safeguarding the delivery of infection-free bed linen items.
Cloud-based automation facilitates inventory management with precision and reliability, in addition to making it possible to keep the laundering process hygienic. This streamlined management method allows linen managers in hospitals to give the desired clean and safe bed linen to patients all the time, and the process is aimed at decreasing the chance of infection.
3. Strict adherence to hygiene regulations
Another benefit of opting for cloud-based laundry solutions in Australia is their ability to strictly adhere to up-to-date and locally enforced hygiene regulations for healthcare settings.
With the help of experts in cloud-based laundry solutions, hospitals can hire these professionals to train their hospital staff on how to effectively utilise this platform to handle linen items properly. They may also seek this platform to learn how to safely use personal protective equipment and how to decontaminate bed linen to minimise the risk of cross-contamination.
Laundry solutions in Australia can also be a platform where hospital staff are regularly updated on the changes in hygiene regulations and the best practices to maintain health and safety compliance while handling linen inventory.
The cloud-based platform can also be used to refer to state-specific hygiene regulations in Australia. This is to ensure that hospital staff strictly comply with their state-mandated hygiene regulations.
4. Centralised data
Decision-making is crucial when it comes to supplying high-quality and clean bed linen in a hospital. To facilitate linen managers in this process, data they obtain from RFID tags, sensors, or other IoT devices provides historical data on inventory levels, laundry cycles, and quality control measures.
These sets of information, when transferred to a cloud-based laundry platform, provide valuable insights to linen managers on the linen items they should use and which they should avoid.
Other key performance indicators (KPIs) for choosing high-quality linen items include taking into consideration linen utilisation rates, turnaround times, and inventory levels, ensuring that they are analysed for linen usage optimisation.
Laundry solutions also make it possible for data-driven compliance monitoring, which ensures strict compliance with hygiene regulations, quality standards, and operational protocols.
Invest in laundry solutions in Australia to keep bed linen infection-free
In summary, cloud-based laundry solutions play a critical role in ensuring that hospital bed linen is free of infection.
RFID technology, efficient inventory management, strict adherence to hygiene regulations, and centralised data are the main features of these solutions.
Consider investing in a laundry management system to enhance your infection control procedure when handling bed linen, achieve patient satisfaction and comfort, and ensure that your hospital complies with the highest standards of hygiene to prevent the spread of infection through cross-contaminated linen.
