USA
From vendor selection and linen choices, to linen care and linen management, having an effective strategy provides infection preventionists (IPs) with numerous opportunities to "demonstrate positive, measurable bottom-line value and thereby increase their influence over relevant policy and decision making," according to an article published in the November issue of in Infection Control Today (ICT) magazine.
The article – "How Infection Preventionists Can Affect a Hospital's Bottom Line with Effective Linen Strategy" – is co-authored by Gregory Gicewicz and Janice Carter Larson. Gicewicz is past president of the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) and owner/operator of the healthcare laundry Sterile Surgical Systems. Larson is vice president of clinical resources and consulting for Encompass Group and currently sits on the Association of Linen Management (ALM) board of directors.
In their article, the authors note that leading hospitals are requiring in their RFPs that commercial laundries and cooperatives have HLAC accreditation, or "formal acknowledgement from the laundry verifying that its processes are based on the highest professionally recognized standards."
HLAC is the nonprofit organisation that inspects and accredits laundries processing textiles for hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities.
