Bacteriology and Infectious Diseases

Infection control practices in the laundry services is an inevitable prerequisite for TQM, HAI prevention, healthcare worker safety, quality cure, cost-effectiveness and marketing triumph in a hospital. Clean healthcare laundry plays a vital role in affecting the psychological perception and satisfaction of healthcare staff, patient and public. Laundry in healthcare include bed sheets, gowns, doctors clothing, blankets, towels, patient apparel, etc. and this linen contamination can be a source of HAIs and pose a risk of disease transmission to the users. Therefore, incorporation of infection control measures are of utmost importance to minimize the contribution of contaminated laundry to the incidence of HAIs. Henceforth, present study was conducted with the objectives to evaluate infection control measures being practiced in laundry in one of the multispecialty tertiary care hospital of North India to provide the clean linen and minimize the infections to patients as well as to healthcare

staff. In pre-wash phase, all linen collected in the different hospital areas is assumed to be contaminated; hence, standard precautions are taken to handle the linen and to minimize the microbial contamination to environment during collection and transportation. There are designated spaces in the wards to keep the soiled linen. In washing phase, there is separate entry for receiving and separate trolleys for carrying linen in the laundry. Established set patterns and pre-fixed time cycle for each step is followed in each wash process i.e. pre-wash, wash, rinse and final rinsing. Also, standards are fixed for water level/usage for each cycle, temperature (for wash cycle, rinse cycle, dryer time and ironing time), bleach usage and chemical usage for each step in the wash process. Ironing machine/bench press machines used for ironing the linen is maintained so as to adequately iron, dry and fold the linen. In post wash, while packaging and storing the linen in laundry, loading on the trucks, shifting

in the linen bank and at user end, adequate care is done to prevent soiling or contamination. To conclude, infection control practices in laundry services are one of the essential requirements to minimize the hospital acquired infections and provide the better care and safety to patients as well as to healthcare providers.