Question looking for answers!

[luxflairguy]

hi ALL! Without going into all the details...my best friend has spent 2 weeks in the burn unit of Seattle's Harbouorview Hospital after having a mishap with a large pot of pasta. He'll be OK (I hope)!

Anyway, David has a Miele 1918 washer and matching dryer. Since it has a 190 degree wash cycle does he need to sterilize//sanitize his sheets? He wants to buy some bleach and go to the coin-op and wash them. Is this needed? I believe the Miele will sanitize the sheets to hospital standards. Or should he buy some Lysol Laundry Sanitizer and wash them with that? Thanks for your answers! Laundress chime in please! Greg

 

[ea56]

I would definitely NOT go to a Laundromat to wash sheets that I wanted to be sanitized! Christ only knows whats been in those machines before you put your stuff in them!

If the Miele reaches190 F and your friend also uses a little bit of LCB and then dries then in a dryer on high I can’t imagine what microbes that could survive that treatment. Instead of LCB he could also use some Quaternary Ammonium Compound, sold as Barbicide in beauty supply stores. Thats what is used to sanitize implements in barber and beauty shops.

As an additional precaution just iron the sheets with a steam iron, that would be just about the same as autoclaving them.

I sure hope that your friend will recover fully from his burns.

Also, why not ask the doctor or hospital personnel what they would recommend for sanitizing his sheets. They would be the last word on what to do in my opinion.

Eddie

 

[tomturbomatic]

I send my prayers for a speedy and complete recovery

I agree with all of the above EXCEPT for putting LCB in the Miele.

With such serious burns, the dressings for the burns are the most important surfaces to consider and those should be sterile, like wrapped in foil and sterilized at 15 pounds of pressure UNLESS his post surgical care packages include
sterile dressings in tear to open wrappers like in the hospital. I have seen instructions for sterilizing bandages in older pressure cooker instruction booklets. Launderess would know the procedure, but the important thing was to exhaust the steam rather than letting the pressure drop to remove as much moisture as possible to keep the dressings as dry as possible.
Yes the bed linens need to be as clean as possible, but the burn dressings are the most important sick room items to sterilize other than the special disposable wash cloths and absorbent pads for drying the wound area which will probably be furnished as part of his convalescent care materials.

 

[launderess]

Sorry to hear about your friend's injuries. Hope is on the mend and soon will be well again.

Depending upon severity level of burns bed linen and other textiles that come in contact with burn victims would be sterilized in an autoclave. Same as things used in OR, Labor and Delivery, nursery, and few other areas. You obviously aren't going down that route, so "sterilizing" is out, and sanitizing is in...

When relying upon thermal action for sanitizing hospital linen general recommendation by CDC is 71 C (160 F) for a minimum of 25 minutes. Laundries might break this down into two wash cycles of about 12 minutes each (excluding mixing time). Other sources recommend 70–80°C X 10 min) [158–176°F].

Unless washing linen known to infected, heavily soiled or fouled chemical may not be needed if above temps are followed. Especially if using proper detergent that either contains oxygen bleach (activated is better), or same is added as a "booster". Hydrogen peroxide and or peracetic acid are strong sanitizers, one or both are what many laundries use more and more today instead of chlorine bleach for several reasons.

It will difficult to use chlorine bleach in domestic environment to sanitize linens (or anything) else because you have to accurately titrate chlorine levels. This requires knowing amount of chlorine in product and of course using an EPA registered chlorine bleach product. Bleaches and sanitizers in commercial use for sanitation of laundry will have dosage worked out either on packet or by chemical rep.

Laundering in hot water as above, using a good detergent with oxygen bleach, then drying in a hot dryer, and or ironing with hot iron/mangle will render linens sanitary enough for normal purposes. If anything more is needed speak with a doctor or professional nurse for recommendations.

Last two (drying and or ironing) actually do a great deal in lowering germ count on laundry. No matter what chemicals are used washing machines themselves harbor "germs". This and certain amount of "germs" will always survive whatever is thrown at them during wash. Heat from drying by mechanical means (again dryer or mangle iron) finishes things off by reducing germ loads further.

 

[sarahperdue]

Baked sheets

When I gave birth to my boys at home eighteen and twenty years ago, my midwife instructed me to wash and dry my linens on the hottest settings then place them in paper bags, tape the bags and bake in the oven. I've looked for the baking time and temperature online, and it appears that the home birth folks have decided washing on hot, drying on hot till dry plus ten minutes then placing them in paper sacks until they are needed is sufficient.

 

Sarah