In an extensive interview, members of the Board of Directors of the Healthcare Laundry Accreditation Council (HLAC) provide their perspectives on key issues related to infection prevention and healthcare textile management in the September issue of Infection Control Today (ICT) magazine (page 34). The interview runs the gamut on the “imperatives about proper healthcare laundry processes that infection preventionists (IPs) must know,” including: the newest challenges to healthcare textiles (HCTs); key areas to look for potential HCT contamination; the need for better communication and collaboration between IPs and the laundry profession; ways that IPs can help facilitate collaboration; and the need for hospitals to look at HCTs as an investment in quality patient outcomes and not just an expense.

HLAC is a nonprofit organization that inspects and accredits laundries processing healthcare textiles for hospitals, nursing homes and other healthcare facilities. HLAC board members participating in the ICT interview include: Joan Blanchard, RN, MSS, CNOR, CIC; Infection Prevention Assistant, Littleton Adventist Hospital, Denver, CO; Bradley J. Bushman, VP, Technical Affairs, Standard Textile Co. Inc., Cincinnati, OH; Gregory Gicewicz, Immediate Past President, HLAC; President, Sterile Surgical Systems, Tumwater, WA; and John Scherberger, BS, FAHE, CHESP, REH, HLAC Board President; President, Healthcare Risk Mitigation, Spartanburg, SC.

“Participating in interviews like this gives HLAC the opportunity to increase awareness among IPs that – to minimize potential infection risks – a program that ensures hygienically safe and clean HCTs must be part of their infection prevention strategy,” Scherberger said. “We want to spread the word that the principal benefit of HLAC accreditation to the IP is the knowledge and confidence that their textile provider is meeting the highest standards in the industry for processing healthcare textiles, including strict adherence to federal government regulations and guidelines.”

“In fact, HLAC accreditation increasingly is becoming a requirement among informed IPs and their hospitals for a healthcare laundry to be considered as an authorized vendor,” he said.

*posted from http://www.hlacnet.org/