I just LOOOOOVE this!
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Hospital Laundry Primus Style
- Thread starter launderess
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mrb627
Well-known member
Primus FX
This is an interesting machine...
Malcolm
This is an interesting machine...
Malcolm
Too Early In The Morning For Moi To Deal With The Annoucer&#
Maybe around luch or tea time will have another go. But thanks for posting the link Malcolm, looks like an interesting machine.
Maybe around luch or tea time will have another go. But thanks for posting the link Malcolm, looks like an interesting machine.
tecnopolis
Well-known member
Launderess,
I love that first video, but don't you think the workers should be using breath masks to reduce the chance of air borne pathogens from infecting them? Seems like they have to come very close to the load to stuff it well into the machine not to be at risk. Unless really contaminated loads are handled in a separate process? Maybe they have those UV/sanitizing lights around the laundry room? I see an OSHA moment here.
I love that first video, but don't you think the workers should be using breath masks to reduce the chance of air borne pathogens from infecting them? Seems like they have to come very close to the load to stuff it well into the machine not to be at risk. Unless really contaminated loads are handled in a separate process? Maybe they have those UV/sanitizing lights around the laundry room? I see an OSHA moment here.
@technopolis:
Agree completely.
Very few hospitals have on-site laundry any more. It was one of the first functions to be outsourced after food service. Followed by floor maintenance and then central sterile outsourcing, biomed engineering and building operation.
Clean linens in a hospital environment are important, but not nearly as important as employees having closely trimmed nails and using good handwashing procedures.
If you see an LPN or an RN with acrylic nails in a critical care environment, show them the door.
My 2 pesos.
Agree completely.
Very few hospitals have on-site laundry any more. It was one of the first functions to be outsourced after food service. Followed by floor maintenance and then central sterile outsourcing, biomed engineering and building operation.
Clean linens in a hospital environment are important, but not nearly as important as employees having closely trimmed nails and using good handwashing procedures.
If you see an LPN or an RN with acrylic nails in a critical care environment, show them the door.
My 2 pesos.
@technopolis
Agree totally.
However what one did not understand is why the workers on the "clean" side wore smocks or other protective clothing whilst hose on the "dirty" side who were upclose and personal loading soiled linen did not.
In the UK/EU bodies that regulate public health/commercial laundries prefer barrier laundries for healthcare linen whilst the industry loathes to build them. Barrier laundries are expensive to build, staff (if done properly staff on one side isn't supposed to go the other or vice versa without a shower and change), and of course once all that equipment is installed it is harder to move.
@lowegin:
As one who spent time working in healthcare/nursing well remember being disptached to the hospital laundry when floor/unit ran out of linens. However as you say that has long ceased.
Much depends upon local conditions. Here in NYC commercial/steam laundry regulations all but make it impossible to have one installed near or in a hospital, so it has long been out sourced. That applied mainly to Manhattan, whilst many hospitals in less congested Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx had their own laundries.
Back around the 1980's when managed care revolution started hospitals began looking at just what was their core mission; everything else was to be eliminated or outsourced. That was when many places started shutting down their inhouse laundries.
The problem for hospitals today is that modern commercial laundry equipment is *VERY* expensive and really only pays if kept running at full tilt 24/7 or at least a major part of the time. Then there are the labour, insurance and other costs that are incurred regardless of if the laundry processes 200 sheets or 2000.
Many healthcare systems that own several hospitals/healthcare facilities do own their own laundries. Such places will process all the linen for every hospital and may even take in others as well. However at some point modern tunnel wash systems make more sense and those costs are usually beyond a healthcare system to install and run.
Agree totally.
However what one did not understand is why the workers on the "clean" side wore smocks or other protective clothing whilst hose on the "dirty" side who were upclose and personal loading soiled linen did not.
In the UK/EU bodies that regulate public health/commercial laundries prefer barrier laundries for healthcare linen whilst the industry loathes to build them. Barrier laundries are expensive to build, staff (if done properly staff on one side isn't supposed to go the other or vice versa without a shower and change), and of course once all that equipment is installed it is harder to move.
@lowegin:
As one who spent time working in healthcare/nursing well remember being disptached to the hospital laundry when floor/unit ran out of linens. However as you say that has long ceased.
Much depends upon local conditions. Here in NYC commercial/steam laundry regulations all but make it impossible to have one installed near or in a hospital, so it has long been out sourced. That applied mainly to Manhattan, whilst many hospitals in less congested Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens or the Bronx had their own laundries.
Back around the 1980's when managed care revolution started hospitals began looking at just what was their core mission; everything else was to be eliminated or outsourced. That was when many places started shutting down their inhouse laundries.
The problem for hospitals today is that modern commercial laundry equipment is *VERY* expensive and really only pays if kept running at full tilt 24/7 or at least a major part of the time. Then there are the labour, insurance and other costs that are incurred regardless of if the laundry processes 200 sheets or 2000.
Many healthcare systems that own several hospitals/healthcare facilities do own their own laundries. Such places will process all the linen for every hospital and may even take in others as well. However at some point modern tunnel wash systems make more sense and those costs are usually beyond a healthcare system to install and run.
@launderess:
I know all too well what's happened to contemporary hospitals.
Were you around when ETO sterilizers were used? And then when the health scares about ETO came about?
Outsourcing of essential hospital functions has been a contributing factor in MRSA-resistant bacteria infections. GK Linen Services (to pick one of several "service companies") really doesn't care whether they are delivering shop towels to a Ford dealer or linens to a Hospital, as long as they deliver the financial results that the corp. predicts and the analysts agree with.
Don't get sick, then you don't have to worry about whether the icky hospital food was made on-site by nice ladies wearing a cornette and a habit or by an illegal working for Sodexco as part of a healthcare system contract.
I know all too well what's happened to contemporary hospitals.
Were you around when ETO sterilizers were used? And then when the health scares about ETO came about?
Outsourcing of essential hospital functions has been a contributing factor in MRSA-resistant bacteria infections. GK Linen Services (to pick one of several "service companies") really doesn't care whether they are delivering shop towels to a Ford dealer or linens to a Hospital, as long as they deliver the financial results that the corp. predicts and the analysts agree with.
Don't get sick, then you don't have to worry about whether the icky hospital food was made on-site by nice ladies wearing a cornette and a habit or by an illegal working for Sodexco as part of a healthcare system contract.
Ethylene oxide
Never dug too deeply as to where things went, just reached for supplies and cared that they were where they should have been! *LOL*
Left all that behind by the early 1990's so am not sure what Manhattan hospitals had buried deep in the bowels of their buildings. *LOL*
As for MRSA and laundry along with other reused items in hospitals many are now clamping down on things terms of HAIs. While there is a human cost involved but a strong push is also coming from insurance companies, and the federal government via Medicare and Medicaid.
It really doesn't matter who does the laundry, long as certain proceedures are followed it should return free of harmful pathogens and or at levels so reduced not to cause patient harm. Most hospitals now employ an infection control nurse or even department whose job it is to keep abreast of such things. Samples of freshly returned linens can and often are swabbed and cultured to see what is *there*. If IC finds something they shouldn't a phone call will be made. Should the problem persist a change in laundry service can and often does happen.
Never dug too deeply as to where things went, just reached for supplies and cared that they were where they should have been! *LOL*
Left all that behind by the early 1990's so am not sure what Manhattan hospitals had buried deep in the bowels of their buildings. *LOL*
As for MRSA and laundry along with other reused items in hospitals many are now clamping down on things terms of HAIs. While there is a human cost involved but a strong push is also coming from insurance companies, and the federal government via Medicare and Medicaid.
It really doesn't matter who does the laundry, long as certain proceedures are followed it should return free of harmful pathogens and or at levels so reduced not to cause patient harm. Most hospitals now employ an infection control nurse or even department whose job it is to keep abreast of such things. Samples of freshly returned linens can and often are swabbed and cultured to see what is *there*. If IC finds something they shouldn't a phone call will be made. Should the problem persist a change in laundry service can and often does happen.
tecnopolis
Well-known member
I'm no biologist, but I've read that the only safe way to sterilize something is with heat, not chemicals. Namely, steam, as it ruptures the cell membrane and the pathegen dies without altering it's DNA. It's like popping a mico pimple/pop corn. Of course, there has always been the autoclave, but that is not for textiles.
One of the reasons I liked my Haier combo was right after the wash the drying process would get so hot that if you pulled out a towel, they were unaccountably hot and the waft of steam when you opened the door, would melt your face!
One of the reasons I liked my Haier combo was right after the wash the drying process would get so hot that if you pulled out a towel, they were unaccountably hot and the waft of steam when you opened the door, would melt your face!
tecnopolis
Well-known member
> Interesting web site for those inclined to read more about the process.
www.lso-inc.com
Medical Device Sterilization Validation
Life Science Outsourcing offers in-depth medical device sterilization validation services in strict compliance with regulations and ISO standards.
www.lso-inc.com
dj-gabriele
Well-known member
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2007
- Messages
- 1,685
I'd rather use gamma rays for serious sterilization as many have started to do! They do less harm than autoclaving and are 100% safe to surgical materials!
Not Autoclaving Textiles?
Where did you get that stuff?
One of the first uses of autoclaves was in hospitals and other healthcare settings for instruments and textiles that needed to be sterile such as those used in OR and L&D.
Where did you get that stuff?
One of the first uses of autoclaves was in hospitals and other healthcare settings for instruments and textiles that needed to be sterile such as those used in OR and L&D.
tecnopolis
Well-known member
.. I never knew you could autoclave clothing, just instruments.
Wouldn't the high temps singe cloth fibers?
I suspect the fire/spontaneous combustion risk is low due to the closed chamber?
It reminds me of that old movie, Fahrenheit 451.
Wouldn't the high temps singe cloth fibers?
I suspect the fire/spontaneous combustion risk is low due to the closed chamber?
It reminds me of that old movie, Fahrenheit 451.
tecnopolis
Well-known member
..Thanks for the link. I always thought it was a dry process like a self cleaning oven. Not how I pictured it when my friend who was a dental hygienist described her duties to me. That little toaster over didn't look too technical. But that was 30+ years ago.
No, Not Dry At All
In a very broad sense autoclaving is steam under pressure similar to devices used in domestic settings to prepare food. The differences as outlined in the link posted above is that the former reach *very* high levels of pressure and thus have an increased danger risk.
Also as outlined above the "wet" steam process must be at once followed by a drying one otherwise contents will emerge moist. That would allow pathogens to start growing all over again.
In a very broad sense autoclaving is steam under pressure similar to devices used in domestic settings to prepare food. The differences as outlined in the link posted above is that the former reach *very* high levels of pressure and thus have an increased danger risk.
Also as outlined above the "wet" steam process must be at once followed by a drying one otherwise contents will emerge moist. That would allow pathogens to start growing all over again.
tecnopolis
Well-known member
It all seems very energy intensive.. no wonder the hospitals gave up doing it in house.
tecnopolis
Well-known member
Ever since I saw that movie "Andromeda Strain", I think I permanently became a bit of a germaphobe. And hearing of these super bugs in the news lately makes me leary of using ATM's and Gas pumps.
High Temerature In An Autoclave And Textiles
While the temperature is indeed very "high" inside an autoclave it is moist not dry heat. There is little danger of burning textile fibers long as the proper precautions are taken.
While the temperature is indeed very "high" inside an autoclave it is moist not dry heat. There is little danger of burning textile fibers long as the proper precautions are taken.
