6 0 S U P P L E M E N T T O O U T P A T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E M A Y 2 0 1 5
cost issues and a lack of awareness of the strong evidence linking microorgan-
isms on surgical attire to patient and healthcare worker harm. They also don't yet
fully realize that wearing and laundering scrubs at home can also endanger their
families. And with all the new antibiotic-resistant microorganisms emerging,
those risks are only increasing.
1. Convenience. Laundry facilities come to
your center and pick up your scrubs, so it's actu-
ally fairly convenient. Yes, there's a cost involved,
but when you consider the potential cost of a
surgical site infection — and the potential lack of
reimbursement — the price is likely to seem very
reasonable.
2. Less liability. Facilities that let employees
launder scrubs at home may be taking on lia-
bility risks. Patients who develop SSIs may argue that they were negligently exposed through a lack of
proper cleaning of staff attire.
3. Killing power. Newer home washing machines are almost all energy-efficient. That means that in
most cases the water at home is never going to get hot enough to kill the organisms that can be carried
home on scrubs.
4. Peace of mind. For home laundering — which AORN never recommends — to be adequate, there
are almost insurmountable challenges. You'd have to make sure scrubs are the last load of the day,
you'd have to use bleach and the hottest setting available, you'd have to make sure the load is totally
submerged and then you'd have to wash your hands before you move the clothes to the dryer. And hav-
ing done all that, you're still far from finished. You'd then have to clean the washer lid, dry the load at
the highest possible temperature, iron everything and ultimately transport the load in a manner that
maintains cleanliness. That's a lot of steps for one load of laundry, and you can be pretty sure people
aren't going to want to follow them all.
— Lisa Spruce, DNP, RN, CNS-CP, CNOR, ACNS, ACNP
MAKING THE CASE
4 Reasons to Leave Laundering to the Professionals
z COMFORT CYCLE Outsourcing scrubs
for cleaning ensures it's done right.
