What To Look For In A Hospital Linen Or Medical Linen Provider

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There are many hospital linen providers, and finding the best one for your medical linen needs can be very tough. When looking for a provider, there are several things you should keep in mind, as these will help you find the best one. These benefits and considerations are essential for a hospital to properly function, so make sure you thoroughly check out your hospital linen provider.

Price


A hospital has a lot of overhead charges, so spending a lot of money for medical linen is out of the question. Most hospitals choose paper gowns because they are often less expensive on an item-by-item, but few patients like these gowns because they are uncomfortable and flimsy. Moreover, when pricing paper gowns, a hospital must also account for their disposal cost. When all these costs are combined, a good hospital linen provider will often be able to provide medical linen for a price lower than most paper gowns, making them very affordable.

Individual Bagging


Many hospital linen providers bag their linens in one large bag. There may be 20 or ...
... 50 gowns together in a single bag, which can lead to accidents that compromise the sterile conditions of the gown. A good medical linen provider will wrap each gown in its own bag. This ensures that the patient always gets a gown that is clean, and it is easier to manage individually bagged gowns.

OSHA Standards


OSHA standards are very strict, but they must be followed in a hospital environment. All hospital linen must be properly cleaned and handled, otherwise the hospital may have health concerns. This leads to fewer patients and other severe problems, so finding a medical linen provider that follows all of the OSHA standards is paramount to the hospital’s success. Although many providers do follow OSHA standards, there are a few that don’t, and those few can hurt your business.

Inventory Management


A hospital is a busy place, so it is very possible that you may forget to order hospital linen at the right time, which can cause a major problem when there are no gowns for patients. Managing the medical linen gowns can take a lot of time, especially with so many other things going on in the hospital.

However, a good linen provider will help manage your inventory. They will often use a management system that helps them predict when you need more gowns. This means the provider will come along whenever needed, without you having to order the gowns. This is very convenient, and it frees you up for other activities.

Eco-Friendly Laundering


This is increasingly becoming more of a demand, as many people are becoming aware of the environmental impacts of their actions. Normal laundering uses a lot of harsh chemicals that are harmful to the environment, and many patients may disapprove of this.

To ensure you keep all your patients, and to keep up with this growing trend, it is important to find a linen provider that uses an eco-friendly laundering method to properly clean linens.

Conclusion


Finding the best hospital linen provider is very hard, especially with so many providers out there vying for your money and service. However, this checklist should help you narrow down the field significantly. If your current provider doesn’t have all of these benefits, then maybe it is time to change to another provider. A provider with all of these benefits will make it easier for you to manage the hospital, and it will present cleaner gown and linen conditions.

Erica Ronchetti is a freelance writer for ImageFIRSTTM, a nationwide industry leader and the fastest growing provider of medical linen and hospital linen (healthcare laundry services) to the medical market.