Textile Processing Cost Benchmarks

In the laundry processing business, many facilities fail because they cannot manage to meet simple processing cost benchmarks. Others have difficulties making decisions or justifying upgrades because they do not understand these benchmarks. Up until recently, little effort had been put into consolidating the necessary data into understandable terms that facility managers and executives will be able to put into practice. Fortunately, there is now a comprehensive study available that aims to do just that.

Cost per Pound (Processed and Delivered)
The study, compiled by American Laundry News, forecasts that laundries will reach an average per pound cost of $1.10 in 2013. However, that number is not reflected in the study as data was only available through 2011. The cost per pound (processed and delivered) for the study ranged from $0.78 to $1.05.

Processing and Production Benchmarks
Within that $0.78 to $1.05 per pound cost are several different aspects that must be accounted for, including processing and production. For an efficient facility, the study determined that these costs should be between 48 and 69 cents per pound. Here is how those benchmarks break down ideally:

Processing cost: this is the direct cost of labor and the benefits associated with hiring and maintaining labor (e.g. health insurance, retirement pensions, etc). This should be between 18-23 cents per pound processed.

Administrative costs: the costs of non-production employees and management. This should be around 3-5 cents per processed pound and delivered.

Maintenance and repairs: the costs associated with labor and materials needed for routine maintenance. This should be around 7-11 cents per lb. processed and delivered.

Equipment depreciation: obtain this by dividing the equipment's value over its lifetime (for the study, this was 15 years). This should be around 4-6 cents per pound processed.

Property depreciation and property taxes: 3-5 cents per lb. processed and delivered.

General supplies: 2-4 cents per pound processed.

Chemical supplies: 3-5 cents per pound processed.

Utilities: 8-10 cents per pound processed.

Distribution and Replacement Benchmarks
In addition to your processing and production costs, you will need to take into account the cost of distribution and replacement of textiles. The study determined that this should be roughly 30 to 36 cents per pound processed and delivered. This breaks down into two categories. Distribution and return cost, which includes drivers, fees, tolls, fuel, vehicle maintenance and repair, labor, and so forth, should cost between 13 and 15 cents per pound processed. Textile replacement cost was between 17 and 21 cents per pound.

These benchmarks were set as ideals to be reached when your facility is operating at its best. To make the most of your laundry processing business, break down your costs per processed pound and delivered, and determine where you are unacceptably outside of these benchmarks, then cut back.

Sustainable Best Practice Standards

There is a big development currently in the works in the laundry service industry. ASTM (International Technical Committee D13 on Textiles) is in the process of developing a new international standard concerning laundry cleaning best management practices. If successful, the standard will in effect identify and define clear practices with which businesses in the field should be aiming to meet regarding their environmental impact. The goal is to increase energy efficiency and reduce consumption in all respects. Thus, the new development can be seen as a comprehensive effort to target wasteful practices worldwide and eliminate them in due time.

The Environmental Impact of the Laundry Industry

The laundry service industry (i.e. medical linen and hospital laundry service organizations) has a major environmental footprint. These companies use billions of gallons of water each year as well as tons of detergent as they process a vast number of linens in their facilities each and every day.

That being said, ASTM is committed to an overhaul of the ways in which businesses are currently operating. They hope that their new eco-friendly standards will lead to a significant reduction in water usage and promote long-term sustainability of the industry at large. As it currently stands, the newly proposed international standards have a good chance of passing. Once this has happened, commercial laundry facilities will be assessed and subsequently evaluated on a performance scale to determine whether they meet the mark.

A List of ASTM's Best Practice Standards

ASTM is serious about its efforts, and this is demonstrated by the extensive list of areas which are to be included in the proposed international best practice standards. They are all geared toward promoting eco-friendly operations. This includes the implementation of water reuse technology, boiler heat recovery, wastewater heat recovery, using eco-friendly low temperature detergents, as well as installing energy-efficient lighting in facilities and having an energy audit performed to provide a thorough assessment of a company's current performance. ASTM is also pushing for the promotion of alternative energy forms, namely the use of solar energy systems to reduce consumption.

If successful, the international best practice standards will be a monumental step in the laundry industry. It will likely take some time for the certification process to go into effect, but we will probably start seeing many businesses making the move to using eco-friendly technologies as a means of preparing themselves for review. ASTM encourages owners of these facilities to support WK35985.

7 Tips For Living A Happy Life With Chronic Illness Using Patient Education and Counseling

How do you live with all the chronic illness you have experienced over the years? You have been through so much and yet you are so positive and so upbeat? How do you do it? This is a question my family and I get asked all the time. I come from a very large family and over the past 49 years we have experienced several severe chronic illnesses. Illnesses like cancers, heart disease, heart bypass and valve replacement surgeries, heart failure, type 1 diabetes, blindness, mental illness, bowl reconstruction, kidney disease and transplant surgery, dialysis, chronic infections, pneumonia, lung collapses,taps and removals and amputations just to name a few. During this time my family and I have learned to live with these conditions and live a mostly happy life. What is the secret?

There is no magic bullet or pill that will make all of this emotional and mental stress you may experience go away. The truth is no one can make the sadness and the pain vanish, no one except you! Most people don't understand where feelings are born. People think "I can't control how I feel, things happen and I just feel." The problem is that they are wrong. The greatest discovery in the study of the mind is that every feeling that a human has ever had is a direct result of a thought. Therefore, we think, we feel and then we react. This is how the electrical impulses and neurons and transmitters in the brain function. Don't believe me? Try this experiment. One night when you are sitting by yourself I want you to think "Someone is outside looking in the window." Say it a couple of times and I guarantee within a few minutes you'll be "feeling" nervous. You will wind up getting up to check and see who is outside. You will be looking for the person you just created in your mind a few moments ago.

Now you will say, "OK, how does that help me deal with the stress I am feeling do to my illness?" Here is how it works. You are diagnosed, you leave the doctor's office and start filling your head with the following thoughts- I'm sick, I don't know what's going to happen, I'm in trouble, I'm scared, I'm dying, things are really bad. Your brain transmits these thoughts to the part of the brain that creates feelings and vole' you're feeling scared, frightened, depressed and sad. Nothing physically has changed from the time you entered the doctor's office to the time you left it, yet you are "feeling" traumatized.

The secret? You have to learn how to think properly. Yes you have pain and a lot on your plate and you may have a long bumpy road ahead, but how is thinking sad and depressed thoughts going to make you feel better? The answer, it won't! You have to train yourself how to think correctly. You have to learn how to take control of your mind. Here is a list of things you can do to help you start thinking correctly.

1. First and foremost do your homework! Understand anything and everything you can about your illness and its treatments. Knowledge is power. Doing this will give you a feeling of confidence and will put you more in control of your situation.

2. Tied for 1st. don't live in denial and run around pretending everything's fine and not acknowledging you have an illness. Do this and you may find yourself in another hospital. Yes you are sick and yes it is going to be scary at times. What you have to remember is that it doesn't have to be that way all the time.

3. Practice, practice, practice. I recommend every morning that you count your blessings. Run through your head all the wonderful things you have to be thankful for in this life. Exp- I have a roof over my head, I have friends and family who love me, I can think and walk and talk, I have food on my table, I have a God in heaven who loves me, I love me I am a good person. These are some of the ones that I use. Yours may be different. Then meditate in complete silence for at least 20 minutes, pray after you are done meditating. It is so important to start your day on a positive note. Then throughout your day keep reminding yourself of all the good things in your life. Try this instead of waking up and thinking "I am sick, I am in pain, I am going to die and life sucks." We all know what road these thoughts are going to take you down. Depression, sadness, fear, frustration and anger.

4. Research how the mind and the subconscious mind work and how you can control your thoughts and therefore your feelings. Read books, get on the internet and make this a part of your recovery and treatment plan.

5. Remember, you are not alone and you aren't the first one to go through this. Find a support group and make contact with them. Utilize all that they have to offer. These people have already been through what you're experiencing and they will be able to steer you in the right direction. They will also be able to keep you from making the same mistakes they made.

6. (Caveat to 5) Stay away from negative people. Negative people and negative thoughts are 10 times stronger than positive. Think about it, you are in a group of 10 and 9 love you and 1 hates you. You are bound to sit and worry about why that 1 person doesn't like you. Stay away from negative people.

7. Don't waste the time you have now, this moment right now, worrying about something that may or may not happen in the future. It is a waste of your precious time you have now. If you choose to do this, sitting around thinking worrisome thoughts about your illness, then the disease/illness wins. Ask yourself this question "What good does it do you? How does it help make you feel better?"

The Future of Healthcare Laundry

According to American Laundry News, in the field of healthcare textiles, there are a few primary factors that will affect how the industry changes in upcoming years. Some of these factors include: rising environmental concerns, changes to national healthcare, and energy. Here is a brief analysis of how these factors could affect the healthcare laundry industry in the future.

Rising Environmental Concerns

With increased concern about the effects of pollution, global warming, and climate change, the "green" trend continues to gain momentum. More and more companies across all major industries are now striving to reduce their carbon footprint. It is projected that awareness of how business practices affect our environment will continue to grow in the next 20 years. Environmental concerns will likely reach the point that all professional laundry companies will need to treat their wastewater and reuse it.

Changes to National Healthcare

By the year 2033, it is very possible that the U.S. healthcare laundry market will resemble the current Canadian laundry market. The majority of U.S. healthcare could be government subsidized through a single provider network. If the government is the primary source of all revenue, it will be actively involved in seeking to control healthcare and related costs at all levels.

Healthcare administrators tend to view medical linen service as an unavoidable expense and continually search for ways to reduce those costs. This typically involves outsourcing, relying on contract management businesses, and limiting the number of items in the linen inventory. In the future, the government will likely look at establishing a network of healthcare laundries to provide standard service to all medical facilities.

Energy

The rise in environmental concerns will drive new energy legislation. To effectively reduce pollution caused by transportation vehicles, the government will continue to allow oil prices to rise. The increases in gasoline and diesel prices will cause consumers and companies alike to reduce their usage. Limiting fuel costs will mean that laundry locations must be carefully planned in relation to the geographic area that they are serving. Healthcare facilities will likely be assigned to the nearest medical laundry service in their area, eliminating competition.

Stay Ahead of the Curve with a Professional Linen Service

A professional healthcare laundry service can help your hospital, clinic, or other medical facility meet economic, disinfection, and patient satisfaction needs. As the medical linen industry continues to adapt to changes in both our economic and world climate, professional linen services must stay on the cutting edge of industry standards. While the future is uncertain in most industries, professional laundry services can help your medical facility continue to provide the best possible care and sanitation.

Equipment Used By Medical Laundry Service Companies in Hospitals

Infection control is a major issue for healthcare facilities throughout the U.S. Clinics and hospitals require high standards of sanitation in order to reduce the risk of cross-infection from contaminated linens. Due to the stringent sanitation guidelines that must be met, many healthcare facilities choose to hire a medical laundry service. Here is some information about the specialized laundry equipment used by medical laundry service companies.

Washing Machines

These range from small 6 kg machines to large machines weighing 120 kgs. They can be programmed to perform both thermal disinfection and sluice washes. There are also multi-programmable washing machines with a range of features, which are ideal for cleaning different types of medical linens. Many have special features like automatic timing, automatic reverse, and automatic temperature control. The washing machines used to launder medical linens must produce wash results that meet specific health requirements. Medical laundry service companies use laundry equipment which offer quality, durability, and reliability for clinics and hospitals.

Dryers

These can be LPG, gas, or electric tumble dryers or, hydro extractors, which decrease the drying time of medical linen by removing high amounts of water from fabrics. Newer models of tumble dryers have heat pump technology which makes them capable of handling all types of healthcare linen. Tumble dryers used to clean medical linens are designed for maximum efficiency. They dry hospital linen faster and are economical as well.

Ironing Equipment

When healthcare linens have been laundered, they require a professional finish. Skilled medical laundry service companies provide ironing equipment which offers the best solution to the ironing requirements of hospitals and clinics. These range from drying ironers, to table and bed ironers. These companies use ironers that are capable of ironing all types of fabrics to produce excellent results each time. Different ironers are used for different types of linens, such as clothes, bed linens, and table linens. The laundry companies use ironers that are easy to operate and have different features like automatic temperature controls and touchless temperature systems.

Most hospitals, clinics, and nursing homes aim to improve their laundry production through efficient laundry services. Skilled medical laundry service companies offer the best solution as they get high volumes of laundry done faster while giving the utmost attention to quality. These companies properly wash different items thoroughly and consistently, which help to improve linen inventory maintenance significantly. Towels, sheets, blankets, bed pads, rugs, mop heads, and personal items are all cleaned differently according to their unique specifications. Excellent linen solutions that fit a hospital's requirements help secure patient satisfaction and health. By allowing skilled professionals to do the work, hospitals and clinics enjoy specialized and cost-effective linen management.

Cleaning Up With Feng Shui?

Inventor, designer and philanthropist Sir James Dyson ought to be congratulated for his new campaign to clean up hospitals following a 4 million donation to a West Country neonatal ward.

Staff, patients and most importantly premature babies are now thriving after a 6.1m revamp at the Royal United Hospital. In the words of one concerned parent of a child born 12 weeks prematurely and contracted a potentially life-threatening infection. * "It was touch and go for a couple of days, but I remember it was the way the nurse's hands were folded and something about the lights, the mood, the space, it all helped us to cope."

That "something" is undoubtedly feng shui now defined by the Oxford English Dictionary as "a system of laws considered to govern spatial arrangement and orientation in relation to the flow of energy (chi), and whose favourable or unfavourable effects are taken into account when siting and designing buildings."

In basic terms it deals with the flow and storage of energy throughout a building or space and how different materials support or interrupt this distribution. All materials, shapes, positions and even colours within the area are analysed and the path is determined by air flow. It may help to think of this in terms of heat and light, where ideally warmth should be preserved and natural light needs to flow for maximum comfort and efficiency. When applied to those who are vulnerable this aids wellbeing and speeds recovery.

The good news is that feng shui principles can improve any existing space even without the need of costly refurbishments. However, the finer the ingredients the better the result, and when feng shui is applied to new builds or major refurbishments the results can be outstanding.

As well as working with design and project teams we have also trained many Architects to use feng shui and collectively we are all working to provide nurturing environments for those in need. Sir James Dyson is now a making a 4 million donation to a cancer ward in the same hospital.

We are keen to lend a hand and feng shui advice to help other hospitals improve their environments and subsequent service whilst reducing stress.

As our future depends on the lives of our children we would also like to work with schools to provide a nurturing and less intensive place for their pupils. If you are involved in these sectors and would like some feng shui advice please send us your enquiries.

* = quote taken from this article clean up hospitals

Advantages of In Vitro Fertilization (IVF)

Not being able to conceive a child naturally is a problem that plagues more couples than is commonly believed. Infertility in either partner can become a hurdle to having a biologically conceived baby. IVF is a boon for millions of such couples who have experienced its benefits.

In vitro fertilization (IVF) is a method of assisted reproduction serving couples who have problems in conceiving a child without intervention. In this procedure the female partner is given special medication to stimulate the ovaries. This leads to the production of more eggs.

These eggs are surgically harvested after they ripen. Sperms are then taken from the male partner, which are combined with the eggs in the lab. The embryos grow in the laboratory for a period of three to five days. The most viable embryos are then implanted into the woman's uterus.

A pregnancy test is conducted after a week or so. A pregnancy may occur in the first cycle itself or depending on the average 30% success rate, more than one cycle may be needed for IVF to result in a pregnancy.

Advantages of IVF:

• Infertility can result from various reasons. For certain types of infertility, IVF really boosts the chances of pregnancy.

• Women with blocked fallopian tubes stand a good chance with IVF treatment.

• Men having a low sperm count stand to gain immensely from IVF.

• Weak sperm that is unable to fertilize the egg naturally responds well to IVF.

• With already created embryos, the sperm omits the need to find its way into the woman's reproductive tract.

• IVF provides infertile couples with the option of choosing donor eggs in cases where the female partner may have issues with her own eggs including premature ovarian failure.

• Surrogate IVF uses eggs from the donor and the woman's partner's sperm to create embryos in the lab.

• This kind of assisted reproduction provides two options - one, the embryo can be implanted into the donor's womb or into the woman's uterus.

• IVF has the advantage of checking the eggs or the embryo for any genetic abnormalities.

• Doctors are able to test chromosomes in an embryo before going ahead with the complete IVF procedure.

IVF does not guarantee a pregnancy but it boosts chances of one. For millions around the globe it has become a method of choice. The success stories have brought immense joy to families. Many of the challenges in making the treatment successful can be overcome by a good doctor.

The odds of success decrease with age. It is best to choose IVF before age 35-40. But surprisingly there have even been reports of women on the brink of menopause getting pregnant after the IVF treatment! But that age is not what doctors recommend. The younger the woman is, the better the chances of success are.

There are some ethical and moral debates around IVF. These include the fate of the extra embryos that are not put back into the woman's uterus. Frozen embryos are viewed by many as being equivalent to children. Often these embryos are utilized in impregnating the woman if the first few attempts at IVF fail.

Laundry Services' Role in Long-Term Care

With the retirement and inevitable aging of the baby boomer demographic, the long-term care industry is seeing the beginnings of a boom that will potentially last several decades. This is exciting news for the dedicated healthcare workers who specialize in long-term and elder care, but it does pose some issues for facility managers, who are having to plan and account for future growth. One area where they must place particular concern is in their choice of laundry services.

Client Perception

Although there are many aspects of care that patents and their family members will be concerned with when choosing long-term care options (and whether to stay with the option they chose), one of the most quickly visible aspects is the quality and cleanliness of the facility's linens, towels, and garments. Clients believe that it is a simple thing for a facility to provide fresh, clean, and new linens to each patient, so long-term facilities are forced to live up to that perception, even though it is not always the case.

The Pratfalls of In-House Laundry

Some facilities opt to perform all of their laundering needs themselves, maintaining an on-premises laundry center. However, when you add residents' personal items and personal laundry needs to your facility's overall linen need, it quickly becomes difficult to maintain an in-house laundry center. The manpower and machine availability needed for both personal items and general linen requirements can be overwhelming if you are not fully prepared.

Hiring a Laundry Service

Hiring a laundry service can make a long-term care facility manager's life significantly easier. True, you will still need machines and manpower to ensure that residents' personal clothing and items are washed and cared for if that is an on-site offering, but bedding, towels, gowns, uniforms and other linens can be taken care of outside of your facility by experts. Professional healthcare laundry services are fully equipped to take on cleaning and maintaining your linen supply, no matter the size of your facility is or your demand level.

Professional laundry services stay in business because they are able to meet the demands your patients and their family members have for your facility's linens. A healthcare laundry service will provide your facility with a rotating supply of expertly cleaned and sanitized linens to ensure that your patients and their families are pleased. They will also keep you and your employees happy because they scan each piece of bedding and linen when it comes in for cleaning to ensure that it is still functioning at the level of quality that your facility demands. Any item that does not meet inspection is replaced by the service, meaning you do not have to spend extra funds on constantly replacing and refreshing your linen supply.

The Future of Healthcare Laundry

Although it's impossible to know for certain what the future brings, there are trends occurring in the healthcare laundry industry that offer us a glimpse at what the industry may look like 10, 20, or 30 years from now. We are already seeing improvements in linen technology and environmental friendliness, and those movements are expected to continue to grow. We also expect to see more involvement from the government in healthcare, which will naturally affect the medical laundry service industry.

The Government and Healthcare

Although there is quite a bit of disagreement on both sides of the political aisle about what the solution should be, most people agree that our healthcare system is dysfunctional and needs a major overhaul. No matter what that overhaul entails, it seems clear that the government will take a more active role in the management of healthcare and medical facilities. It is very likely that commercial laundry services will be highly controlled by the government if it takes on responsibility for the management of healthcare facilities.

The Environment

As time continues, lessening environmental impact has become increasingly important, especially in the medical laundry industry. New regulations and green standards are announced every day. We predict that regulations will drastically increase the overall efficiency of a commercial laundry, including new methods to reduce or eliminate all harmful chemical products. Water-reusing technology is not far from being commercially available, and biodegradable detergents are gaining potency with each passing day. These improvements in eco-friendliness will ultimately be great for workers' health and overall resource consumption.

The Linens Themselves

We are already seeing exciting new developments in the composition of hospital linen products that promise to decrease the chance of carrying disease, increase a patient's ability to heal, and lessen the likelihood of the patient developing skin issues like bed sores. The best part of these particular futuristic linens is that they dry much more quickly than traditional linens and do not require ironing to be ready for patient use. It is almost guaranteed that when these products become available, laundry services will add them to their stock. Not only do these new linens save the laundry time and money over the long run, but hospitals will also quickly begin demanding them because they will improve patient care.

Although the future is uncertain, many laundry industry experts have been preparing for these exciting industry changes. Ultimately increasing patient care and environmental stewardship, new standards promise to improve the industry as a whole. Governmental regulation may or may not further these innovations, but everyone is hopeful that if the government should become involved in the industry, it will only be for everyone's benefit.

Reversing the Disposables Trend

Since the advent of disposable textiles, most of the operating rooms across the United States, and even the world, have transitioned to using these single-use textile items almost exclusively. The reusable textile service industry has not supported this change, but convenience and a lack of information prevailed in the medical industry. Now, however, the disposable textiles trend is beginning to reverse.

Waste Production and Disposal

Environmental concerns have led the call to change, with many hospitals discovering that their environmental footprint and overall waste production is bloated because of their practice of using disposable textiles in the operating room. Thanks in large part to these operating room practices, each U.S. hospital patient currently generates just under 34 pounds of waste per day. This is a horrifying number when you realize that the bulk of that is considered potentially infectious medical waste, which complicates its removal and disposal.

Using reusable textiles in the operating room drastically decreases the amount of medical waste that is generated during surgical procedures. This in turn decreases the amount of waste hospitals produce overall, simultaneously decreasing their need for specialized medical waste removal and their environmental impact.

Sustainability

It seems self-evident that disposable goods are not environmentally sustainable, whereas reusable goods are significantly more so. For a long time, sustainability was not a concern hospitals or their patients had, but in a modern hospital, it is a perpetually growing concern. Reusable textiles substantially increase a hospital's sustainability, and can actually save hospitals money.

Reusable Textiles Are Safe

The largest resistance to reusable textiles has been from doctors and patients who are unaware that these types of textiles can be as safe as, if not safer than, single-use disposable textiles. When these textiles fell from grace, there was a genuine safety difference that doctors noticed. At that time, a single-use item could be guaranteed sterile, whereas a reusable item could not always be. Nowadays, reusable gowns and drapes meet or exceed protection standards that hospitals require. Modern healthcare laundry services are able to fully disinfect and sterilize the textiles they handle, something that laundries in the 1960s were not able to guarantee.

Education regarding the safety of reusable textiles, along with information about their environmental and cost reduction benefits, is beginning to spread among medical professionals and their patients. However, there is still a lot of work that proponents of reusable textiles must do to create an informed public. Once we re-educate Americans about the efficacy and safety of reusable hospital textiles, we should see a resurgence of reusable options and the reversal of the disposables trend.

Cleaning Medical Linens In House? Hire a Professional Linen Service and Redirect Staff Dollars

High standards of cleanliness in hospitals prevent the spread of bacteria and viruses among patients and healthcare providers. Studies have shown that hiring a professional cleaning service makes the hospital more sanitary and helps the hospital save money. When the hospital staff is responsible for cleaning medical linens in addition to all their healthcare tasks, the productivity of the hospital is reduced.

There is a ton of work to be done in the hospital, especially when patient occupancy is high. A professional cleaning service is better equipped to manage day-to-day linen cleaning and would free up overstretched staff to focus on more important healthcare tasks.

Reasons to Choose Professional Assistance

Before any person is approved to be a professional cleaner of healthcare linens, they must undergo intense training and acquire a license. Professional cleaners are trained on how to best clean and dispose of certain items, such as blood borne pathogens. This is helpful since it prevents the spread of pathogens and cross contamination in the hospital.

Professional cleaners have a lot experience to back up their training. This is important because in the process they deal with a lot of chemicals and are exposed to a variety of cleaning methods. Hospital linens vary in material and special care is required for each type. The hospital staff may not know the right cleaning method or proper cleaning agent to use when cleaning. Professional cleaners can help save and prolong the life and durability of hospital linens by using the right type of cleaning method.

The hospital will save on a lot of money by hiring a professional hospital cleaning service. In-house cleaning will require the hospital to buy and maintain equipment, keep inventory of supplies, and increase utility costs. This is a lot of money, since there are so many medical linens to be cleaned on a daily basis in a hospital. A cleaning agency will have its own equipment, thus reducing the need for the hospital to invest in cleaning equipment. The funds that would have been used for cleaning equipment, supplies and utilities could be invested in other areas of the hospital that need more attention.

How to Choose the Best Cleaning Agency

When looking for a medical linens cleaning agency, it is advisable to be very cautious. The last thing a hospital needs is all its medical linens carelessly destroyed by a faulty service provider. Remember that the reputation of any successful agency will sell itself. Start by asking around for references. Another hospital may be able to recommend an agency it has worked with in the pasted.

Experience is a necessary factor when looking to hire. If the agency staff has never been exposed to a hospital environment before then they may not be a good fit, no matter how much cleaning training they have. It is necessary to carry out an interview to be sure that the agency's method of cleaning will meet the cleaning requirements for healthcare linens.

Choose a cleaning agency that has worked with hospitals before. This is important because hospital linens require more expertise and attention compared to hotel linens. The professional cleaning service must be well-equipped with the knowledge and expertise to prevent the spreading of disease caused by insufficient cleaning practices.

Wound Care Products to Have on Hand

There are many wound care products that you should have on hand for those emergencies that happen around the home, at the office, in the car, or while you are boating. These are all places that should have a first aid kit ready to access at a moment's notice. The following wound care products should be in all of these supply kits.

You should always have a good supply of 2 x 2 gauze pads, 4 x 4 gauze pads, tape to adhere bandages, band aids, antibiotic cream, aloe Vera gel for burns, creams containing Lidocaine, butterfly bandages, plastic gloves, a solar blanket, a cool gel pack, and Tylenol and ibuprofen. It is also a good idea to have regular baby aspirin on hand, peroxide, alcohol, witch hazel, scissors, and tweezers.

You can buy first aid kits that come pre-assembled with wound care products, or you can make your own first aid kit according to the most frequently seen injury types at your work place or home. If you decide to make your own kit does not forget to pack a small amount of things for the injuries you rarely see. You want to be well prepared in the event of a real emergency.

An ace bandage wrap for sprains and strains is handy, especially in the work place, and having some dental adhesive like people use on their dentures will allow you to secure a loose cap back on a tooth until the person can get to the dentist. Cotton balls and cotton swabs are also very handy to have close by for the purpose of cleaning wounds and applying ointments and creams.

Aspirin is something that most people do not take. Buffered aspirin will help with pain and will not cause the stomach distress that un-buffered aspirin can cause. You want to have some regular aspirin on hand in case you think someone is having a heart attack. The aspirin will help to thin the blood of the person and can sometimes prevent them from dying of a heart attack before they can be gotten to a doctor.

Remember to have pain relievers that are age appropriate to the people you treat the most often. If you rarely have children around then make certain the pain relievers and antihistamines that you keep in your first aid kit can be given to children. If you rarely see a child then you will want to make certain that you have adult appropriate medications.

Antacids are also something that you can keep in a first aid kit. Heartburn and indigestion can be very troublesome and keeping a treatment for these ailments can keep someone from unnecessary pain. You can also keep antihistamines on hand to treat people when they are having a severe allergic reaction to bug bites or a severe allergy attack.

Keep the number to poison control handy is case someone ingests a toxic substance. You also want to have all emergency information that you can have about the possible victim.

Wound Care Products and First Aid Kits

One thing that many people do not consider about their wound care products that are in their first aid kits is that these items have a limited shelf life. The wound care products in your first aid kits will not be good for indefinite periods of time. You should be having a yearly check to see what the expiration dates on your wound care products in your first aid kits are. This will allow you to replace any items that are about to be out of date.

Expiration dates on wound care products are important to heed because some medications can change when they age, and the changes that occur in them can cause them to ineffective, or it can cause them to create allergic reactions or strange symptoms in you. Medications that you have never had an allergic reaction to, can cause you to go into anaphylactic shock, after they have aged too long, or after they have been stored in temperatures that are higher than what is recommended on their packaging.

Even band aids have an expiration date. The band aid does not necessarily become bad, or stop doing its job, when it gets older, but the adhesive on the band aid may no longer function as effectively as it did when the item was first created. Band aids that have antibiotic ointment on their pads may no longer have the same effectiveness after the shelf life of the product has expired. All of these are things to keep in mind about your first aid supplies.

First aid kits should be created with the most common injuries you are likely to see in mind. If you work in a company that has a high incident of minor burns, then the first aid kits that are kept around the company should have minor burn treatment as one of its main symptom relievers. Almost all companies need to have regular aspirin on hand in case someone suffers the effects of a heart attack. Aspirin thins the blood and often stops a heart attack from becoming a fatality when it is taken immediately after the first symptoms are felt.

You should always have syrup of ipecac around if you have small children around. This syrup will help you to treat many of the accidental poisonings that children have. You should not give the syrup without contacting poison control to make certain that this is the treatment for the poison they have ingested. Some things need to be diluted with massive quantities of milk or water and not ipecac syrup.

Most companies that have outside employees keep antihistamines and the things necessary to treat bug bites, minor allergic reactions, bee stings, and blisters. All of these things can be annoying when they happen, and some of them can be quite dangerous. There should be someone on the premises that knows CPR and knows when to administer it. Having the proper products to treat minor emergencies can save a life sometimes.

Wound Care Products for Cuts and Scrapes

It is important when you have children that you have wound care products on hand to treat cuts and scrapes. Cuts and abrasions are the most common injuries that children get so having the wound care products to treat these conditions on hand will allow you to be prepared at all times.

The single most important wound care products for cuts and scrapes are self-sticking bandages like Band-Aids. These items are useful to cover the wound and prevent germs and debris from being introduced through the opening in the skin. They make bandages like these that have triple antibiotic ointment on the pad of the bandage so that the triple antibiotic ointment stays in place against the wound. Children can often be terrified to allow you to put anything on a cut or scrape because they fear that the treatment will hurt worse than the injury does. The bandages that have the ointment on the gauze portion will save you to argument of trying to apply antibiotic cream.

Wound care products that almost every mom will need to treat cuts and scrapes include hydrogen peroxide, gauze, bandages, alcohol, antibiotic ointments, cotton balls, and suckers. The candy does nothing to treat the wound itself, but it always makes the child feel better if you give them a lollipop for being so brave while you tended to their injury.

You may also want to have some butterfly bandages on hand to help you seal cuts that are pretty deep, or to seal gaping wounds. You can get these items at most pharmacies. It can also be beneficial to always have scissors and paper tape handy when you are treating injuries on a child.

Since a lot of cuts and scrapes are caused by metal objects you will want to make certain that your child is up to date on their immunizations. You want to have a record of when your child had their last tetanus shot. If it has been ten years since they have received a tetanus shot they will most likely require one if they cut themselves on a metal object. Do not rely on memory to tell you when their last shot was. Write this information down and keep the paper in the medical supply, or first aid box in your home.

Tweezers are handy to have in your supply box because when glass is involved in the injury there is a good chance that there could still be some glass in the cut. Tweezers will help you to get the foreign matter out of the wound before you begin to dress the wound. A small flashlight may also be needed to see into the wound well enough to remove foreign objects like glass or splinters of wood.

Cold packs help to reduce swelling and age appropriate pain relievers like Ibuprofens, or acetaminophens, can help to reduce the pain caused by the injury. Watch a wound like this for inflammation and redness that radiates out from the cut. These could be signs of infection.

Born From The Past And Looking To The Future - The Progressive Development Of Personal Escape Masks

Ever since the dawn of the modern industrial era companies have taken heed of the requirement to protect the well-being of their workforce, an issue that has become ever more complex in a diversifying global economy. Whereas a 19th Century miner would be fortunate to be provided a hard hat and a budgerigar to protect his well-being from rock fall and poisonous gases, the modern workplace has evolved in such a way to make the employment of Personal Protective Equipment mandatory in sectors across the board, especially as health and safety legislation - in unison with and personal injury litigation - have become ever more prominent. This article looks to focus on how respirators and masks have become a leading concern in the PPE industry across a variety of workplaces, and how cutting edge technology has influenced the development of the market.

For most people, when asked to associate a theme with gas masks or respirators will think of poison gas and its historical connotations, often the school taught image of soldiers being affected by poisonous oxides released through shelling in the WW1 trenches. While this is true, the fact remains that the first patented 'gas masks' were designed backs in the 1840s, with the purpose if filtering dust from the air during construction and mining work. Yet it took the advent of the cold war, and the persistent threat of a global war inevitably featuring the mass deployment of chemical, nuclear and biological weapons for industry to apply itself in constructing a reliable - and repeat use - means of protecting an individual from these agents.

Science has leapfrogged itself countless times over the last few decades, with this progress compounding our scientific knowledge and expectations, with exposure to hazardous chemicals and waste never being greater in than can be witnessed in today's modern industrial workplace. Still employed by militaries worldwide as standard issue kit, the diversification of modern oil, gas, chemical and mining industries has seen a huge push in developing the cutting edge Personal Protective Equipment that can match this progress, and a growing reliance on Personal Escape Masks to ensure the respiratory safety of employees.

For some modern companies, the use of wrap around face masks or N95 respirators is enough, but increasingly Personal Escape Masks are coming to the fore. Unlike the former, PEMs are multiple uses, durable and provide a far greater body of protection to the user. Also, they are lightweight enough to be carried as an emergency precaution without compromising on safety, and even more so are suitable for all head shapes, degrees of facial hair, and wearers of glasses. The FDA expects basic N95s to provide a 95% degree of protection for their employees; a PEM user would expect complete protection from airborne agents and gases, with multiple layers of protection and charcoal filtering ensuring the highest standards of personal protection.

Personal Escape Masks offer superb protection from fire, possessing latex hoods capable of resisting temperatures up to 200°C - more than meeting the requirements of the NFPA 701 - and visors capable of enduring up to 150°C. Providing a means of total protection against toxic gases, smoke and carbon monoxide, along with the reassurance of fire endurance the future of respiratory PPE equipment must be heading in the direction of Escape Masks, for which the modern industrial worker can thank the legacy laid by their ancestors.

A very progressive development in relations between employer and employee, witnessed especially over the last couple of decades, has been a non unionised responsibility for companies to take seriously the 'duty of care' that they have for their employees. Often highly skilled and expensively deployed, today's workers are just as susceptible to our 19th century miner to the inherent dangers of the industrial workplace, and far more in tune to the threats that face them. Unlike other solutions the Personal Escape Mask does not just provide a reassurance; it is the embodiment of progressive industries ensuring the safety of their most valuable asset - their employees.

Medical Equipment and Travel First Aid Kits

If you are planning on going on vacation it is a good idea to make sure you pack a travel first aid kit to ensure that you have access to any basic medical supplies and medical equipment which you might need whilst you are away. Even if you are only travelling within your own country it is a good idea to have supplies on hand in case you are hurt in an unfamiliar environment and do not know the location of the nearest medical store or where to get access to medical equipment.

If you are planning on travelling outside of North America or Western Europe, it is a good idea to include a set of disposable sterile syringes. In some areas, such as Africa and South East Asia there is very limited access to clean medical equipment, and it is possible that if you require an injection, the doctor may be forced to reuse a needle. The risk of cross-contamination is very high, and you are in danger of contracting numerous blood borne illnesses. Even if you ask for a clean needle to be used, there may not be one immediately available, so providing a sterile needle of your own could be the safest option. If you are travelling with this kind of medical equipment, it may not be allowed in your cabin baggage on a flight.

Diarrhoea and rehydration medicine are also essential if you are travelling away from home. Large amounts of salt and fluid are lost from the body during prolonged cases of diarrhoea and vomiting, especially if you are in a very hot environment and are sweating as well. This can lead to dizziness, heat exhaustion and fainting, and could eventually cause more serious damage to your internal organs. Although increasing your fluid intake and eating salty foods can help, rehydration solutions are a good idea to help the body absorb fluids and essential salts. Diarrhoea medicine can also help to temporarily stop diarrhoea if it is becoming problematic.

If you are planning to travel to the tropics or spend any time in the countryside, insect repellent and bite relief creams or tablets are good ideas. Some people react strongly to insect bites, and even if you are a person who does not usually get bitten by insects when you are at home, you may react differently to foreign insects. Anti-histamine tablets can reduce the swelling and will provide temporary relief from the itching.

Bandages, sticking plasters and antiseptics are an essential part of any first aid kit. Cleaning, applying antiseptic and dressing a wound as soon as possible can go a long way in preventing a minor injury from developing into a more serious infection. Carrying out basic first aid on a more serious wound, then dressing it until you are able to get to a hospital can also make a big difference. Even if you are just planning a beach holiday, waterproof plasters are an item that will prove useful if you need to cover a small injury, such as a blister caused by a pair of flip-flops that rub. This can help to prevent sand or foreign objects getting into the wound.

Is Your Medical Laundry Service Certified?

Building and maintaining trust in your facility's operations and its future is as important as the care and recovery of the patients you are treating within it. To keep your hospital or clinic meeting high standards regarding cleanliness and regulations, it is a good idea to have a medical linen and laundry service which has been certified from a third party. This will give your hospital or private practice a competitive advantage over other services that are not and will demonstrate your commitment to protecting your patients and their visitors.

Linens that are regulated will be able to promote and inspire confidence in those whom it matters to the most, since laundry can be a top culprit for harboring disease-inducing bacteria and pathogens. Laundry services do not always do everything they can to help prevent the spread of harmful bacteria, which is why it is always beneficial to use certified professional services.

Benefits of Working with a Certified Hospital Laundry Service

· There is a decrease in the possibility of laundered goods being a source of bacterial infection.

· Certifications are a mark of the mastery of washing, removing wrinkles, drying and ironing, and all of this occurs in the most environmentally friendly manner, leading to extremely hygienic product outputs.

· A laundry service that has taken the trouble to obtain a certification or accreditation usually places a very high importance on quality, customer care and satisfaction.

· You can have peace of mind that always stems from the knowledge that the textile provider chosen is conforming with the best practices for processing healthcare laundry in the industry, including very strict adherence to federal government stipulations, regulations and guidelines.

Certifications and Accreditation

If you are not sure if your current service provider is already certified with a strong third-party certification agency, such as TRSA (Textile Rental Service Association), HLAC (Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council) or with a federal agency, such as OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration), you should reach out directly to the company to ask them. And if the service is not certified, do not immediately panic. You can speak to them about any potential future plans for obtaining certification. If all of your questions are not being answered to your satisfaction, do not hesitate to find a new laundry service in your area. Do not compromise the quality of the service you provide your clients, especially when their health is in question.

Two New Certifications Available for Laundry Facilities

Two new certifications recently became available for laundry services.

Hygienically Clean Certification

The first certification is designed specifically for healthcare linen service providers working with hospital garments for the medical profession. This certification will soon be extended to launderers working within the food service industry as well.

Certification Criteria

In order for providers to qualify for the certification, they need to implement minimum standards of hygiene used in hospitals, nursing homes, medical offices and surgical centers. Facilities must also undergo and pass regular bacteriological testing and inspections. Based on the United States Pharmacopeial Convention (USP) 61 Protocol, testing permits only trace levels of bacteria to remain present after laundering, ironing and packing is complete. The pass/fail criteria are a maximum of 20 colony forming units on samples of laundered hospital linen.

Processes and Further Testing

TRSA does not specify any particular laundry process in order to meet the requirements for certification. Instead, the Hygienically Clean program is results-based alone. Provided launderers meet a minimum standard of hygiene to meet the USP 61 Protocol, they can use any cleaning process they wish. The only additional regulation is that launderers document their procedures in a written manual.

On applying for the new certification, a facility will undergo an initial inspection followed by further inspection every three years. Bacteriological testing will be performed once a month for the first three months, and then once every six months on an ongoing basis after that.

The Hygienically Clean program will help launderers meet minimum standards of hygiene to prevent the spread of disease both within the healthcare facilities for which they work and within their own facilities, breaking the cycle of re-infection that plagues many medical practices.

Clean Green Certification

The second new certification concerns laundry facilities that focus their effort on environmentally friendly laundry processes. Certification is available to facilities that meet minimum standards of water and energy conservation and deploy best practices for water reclamation, recycling and reuse of materials.

Certification Criteria

Facilities must document their water management and energy use efficiency and deploy best practices in the following areas:

- Heat recovery and reuse of drained hot water, as well as removal of solid and liquid waste from used water

- Use of environmentally sound detergents

- Recycling of materials

- Energy use, including solar power and energy-efficient lighting

- Preventative maintenance

- Environmentally efficient use of vehicles

Processes and Further Testing

To qualify for the Clean Green certification, laundry facilities must undergo an audit to verify their processes, water use and energy use. Facilities are inspected once every three years to maintain their certification, though if they fail on any point of the criteria, they may be able to earn points toward certification by deploying additional environmentally friendly best practices.

With environmental concerns weighing heavily on both businesses and the public, the Clean Green certification offers laundry facilities an excellent opportunity to prove their excellent environmental records, leading to a boost in brand reputation and the possibility of winning new customers.

How You Can Focus on Making Health Dollars Go Further and Really Make a Difference

The latest round of budget cuts to Victorian hospitals has a major impact on the safety of Patients and nobody wants to take responsibility for the Patients who are missing out on essential health care.

Let's face it. There will always be competition about money, resources and funding in any health system in any country. These fights may be more political in Australia, where the current funding structure with the "fee for service" system isn't really geared for creating choice for Patients and their Families and improving Patients and their Families lives, whilst also looking at cost effectiveness and inefficiencies. The system has been geared towards running and perpetuating inefficiencies. But rather than getting caught up in a political argument, we should be looking at the causes of the disease, fix the underlying issues and look at possible solutions.

I think it's hypocritical to announce budget cuts across Public health services in Victoria- even though by the time you are reading this, the commonwealth government is on the verge of injecting cash back into the Victorian health system- whilst one of the most expensive areas within hospitals is wasting hundreds of thousands of dollars every month to keep long-term ventilated Adults & Children with Tracheostomy in Intensive Care with no Quality of Life and/or Quality of-end-of Life. Some of those Patients have been in Intensive Care for more than 60 days, costing the tax payer up to $ 5,000 per day, not even mentioning that these Patients are blocking beds, that could be used for another Patient and therefore adding on to the long list of Patients waiting for surgery and for a bed in Public Hospitals.( Surgery waiting list 'could hit 65,000', article in 'the age' from the 19/2/2013). There is also the 4 hour rule now, to get Patients out of the Emergency department within less than 4 hours. What if you don't have any beds for an ED Patient needing an ICU bed in the first place? 4 hours won't cut it, maybe not even 4 days...

The current 'fee for service' system discourages thinking outside of the box and does not look at and fix inefficiencies. If health professionals in hospitals were able to spend less time and less resources undertaking tasks that nurses can competently perform in a Client's own home, health professionals time and resources could be devoted to those acutely ill Patients who would benefit the most in Intensive Care. On the other side of the spectrum would be the long-term ventilated Adult or Child with Tracheostomy who can finally leave ICU. Not even mentioning the Families of those long-term ventilated Adults & Children with Tracheostomy, who are putting their lives on hold, while their loved one is in Intensive Care.

Some cases that I see in Intensive Care are kept in ICU for longer than 60 days, usually the only reason keeping them in Intensive Care is the ventilator dependency. Does anybody still think that Intensive Care is the right place for those Patients? What about some long-term ventilated children who stay in Intensive Care for up to 18 months? Does anybody think that a toddler growing up in Intensive Care is funny for the child or for the Family? I certainly don't think it is. How much longer do Patients, Families, health professionals and the health industry want to tolerate those inefficiencies in Intensive Care while at the same time politicians scream out for saving money? Have you tried saving money, by looking at inefficiencies in one of the most expensive areas in a hospital like Intensive Care?

The argument that Quality and safety can only be maintained in a hospital does not cut it. Plenty of other countries have adopted a far more Patient centred health system and approach, with long-term ventilated Adults & Children with Tracheostomy going home as being the norm. Where else would you want to be if given a choice? How much longer do we want to wait to create choice for the very people we care for? Why not making use of a highly skilled critical care nursing workforce and take long-term ventilated Adults & Children out of Intensive Care?

The whole health system is shackled by professional silos that do not encourage thinking outside of the box or encourage innovation. No other industry is so inflexible and bureaucratic like the health industry, with the result that Patient Care is not optimised and not holistic. Any other industry thrives on innovation and as a direct result creates win-win situations and value for their Clients and Customers.

Here is my suggestion. If the Victorian minister of health David Davies, the Victorian department of health with Dr Pradeep Phillip and hospitals are serious about saving money- and I believe they are not- let's start and save money in high cost areas such as Intensive Care, give Quality of life back to long-term ventilated Adults & Children with Tracheostomy and their Families and take them out of Intensive Care. I think that being in Intensive Care for more than 60 days is more than enough. Very few Patients can't go home after 60 days in Intensive Care and some Patients could go home even earlier. So let's get right to the bottom of saving money, work on inefficiencies and also improve people's lives.

What You Need To Know To Become A Kidney Transplant Donor

If you are a person who is suffering from kidney disease, your situation might get to the point where you and your doctor decide that it is time to seek kidney transplant surgery. At that time, finding a kidney transplant donor will take on utmost importance. You may already know that finding a donor is not as simple as many people think. Chances are very strong that you will start by checking for a possible family member to help with the donation. Beyond that, a good friend or someone willing to offer one of their kidney's to you will be the next best thing. Collectively, all these people are considered living donors.

There are also cases in which people have died as a result of an accident. They may have previously agreed to donate their organs upon their demise. Such acts of kindness and charity are of the highest order as the kidney transplant donor will now be able to keep someone else alive.

Before any surgery can commence, there are a few tests that will need to be performed. There are many components of the blood and usually, these individual components do not match exactly from the donor to the recipient. One of the keys to a successful surgery is to have a perfect match between as many of the components as possible.

The three major tests include blood type, HLA typing, and cross-match testing in the case of a living donor. Blood types consist of O, A, B, and AB. O is considered the universal donor while AB is known as the universal recipient. Human leukocyte antigen typing, or HLA for short, is the matching of six critical antigens found in the blood. The more that match, the better are the chances for a successful surgery. Finally, cross-match testing involves the mixing of donor blood with blood from the recipient. A negative result means the blood is compatible while a positive result means the recipient's blood contains antibodies that will fight off the cells from the donor... no good.

After the kidney transplant surgery has been successfully made, the patient will have to be supervised by a physician very carefully. That person will usually have to take medications for the rest of their life. This is in order to ensure that the new kidney will not be rejected by the body. On average, in the United States, there are over fifteen thousand kidney transplant surgeries performed each year with approximately one-third supplied by a living donor and the balance coming from a deceased donor.

Since the vast majority of kidney transplant surgeries are successful, it is possible for you to get back to a normal life, free from the dialysis machine. Having a positive outlook, a good measure of patience, and a little bit of luck are that is needed to get the right kidney transplant donor.