6 Ways That Linen Loss Occurs in Healthcare

The healthcare industry loses $840 million annually through linen loss. If steps haven’t been taken to contain it, linen loss doubtlessly affects your facility. How can it be stopped, and how can a facility make the most of its linen investment? This article will discuss the most common causes of linen loss in healthcare facilities, how to lessen them, and how to capitalize on linens needed. 

Here are 6 ways that linen loss occurs:

1. Linen Theft

Linen theft accounts for a good chunk of all the linen losses that occur in businesses. In hospitality, a poll shows that 60% of all hotel guests admit to taking home linens from their hotel rooms, and washcloths and pool towels rank as among the most pilfered of all hotel linens. Meanwhile, in the healthcare industry, linen theft accounts for 40% of all linen losses, and more than half of these losses are due to employees taking their linens and scrubs home.

2. Linen Abuse

Linen abuse is misuse of linens both deliberate and accidental. It includes everything from using linens to clean surfaces (e.g. using the bath towels to wipe down the floor,), and exposing them to irreversible stains to intentionally damaging the linens (e.g. ripping, cutting holes, burning, etc).

3. Misplacement

Misplacement of linens commonly occurs when there is transportation involved. Some linens get lost when transporting patients from hospital to hospital via ambulatory care services or transporting expired patients to the mortuary; others get lost in transit between facility and laundry service provider. Linens equipped with RFID-tracking technology are harder to lose as they all get accounted for at every stage of transport, handling, and service.

4. Mismanagement and Poor Maintenance

Mishandling of linens can occur at any stage of the process. It can be overstocking linens in patient-accessible storage or carts that lead to hoarding and linen theft, poor storage systems that lead to damages and misplacement, and improper laundering practices such as using washing chemicals that are incompatible with garment type.

5. Improper Disposal

Despite OSHA guidelines on the handling and disposal of soiled linens, many facilities and their personnel are not as well-versed when it comes to sorting linens exposed to blood and other bodily fluids. This leads to the unnecessary disposal of linens that could easily just have been labeled for special handling/treatment, cutting short the linens’ lifespan.

6. Poor Linen Quality.

One overlooked cause of linen loss is the use of poor-quality linens. Many facilities and businesses think they are cutting expenditures by buying cheaper linens. What is not easily evident in this cost-cutting practice is the compromise on the quality of linens they are getting.

Not only are these linens and apparel less satisfactory on the users’ end, but they are more prone to damage and premature disposal.

How to Prevent Linen Loss

There are many ways to prevent linen loss but perhaps the most dependable solution to this problem, and the sky-high costs that come with linen loss, is to invest in a partnership with a professional linen service provider. The right partner is one that has the experience, the industry-backed expertise, the technology, and the professionals that can take care of your linens from start to finish, keeping security measures in place to prevent damage and loss.

Get all this and more only from HandCraft Healthcare Linen and Uniform Specialists! We have been in the business of providing healthcare facilities with the best linen and garment care since 1970. To learn more about how we can help your business, contact us today at (804) 358-8671!