Did you know that health care linens can dramatically affect patient satisfaction? To have a remarkable experience in your acute care facility, patients should feel positively about the entirety of their room so that they can concentrate on their medical circumstances. This includes how they feel about the linens used in their beds.
Provide a top-notch experience to patients by taking a proactive approach to your healthcare linens: ensure they are high quality, comfortable and properly cleaned. Here’s how:
Patient bed linens should be selected for their quality and the comfort level they impart to the patient. Your facility’s patient-focused linens should wrap your patients in comfort and help them feel at ease while they rest. You may even consider using colored or patterned sheets to enhance the appearance of your patient rooms and create more of a home-like environment.
If your facility is using woven linens, you may also consider converting to knit linens; patients often prefer them to woven due to their softness. Staff and laundry managers in the healthcare industry also appreciate the natural stretch and construction of knit products because there is no need to iron and usually no folding required. Knit linens can simplify the whole laundry process.
Patients pay close attention to the quality and cleanliness of the linens you provide them. Check your linen inventory this year to ensure every linen used to assemble a patient’s bed is free of visible defects. Implementing an inspection process will ensure you consistently meet your quality standards each time a caregiver makes a patient bed. When replacing linens that no longer meet your standards, choose linens made of materials that resist staining and are durable enough to handle commercial laundering.
Patients are able to recognize when hospital staff are concerned about infection prevention and when they aren’t. To improve patient satisfaction, linens should be thoroughly cleaned and safely stored between patient use, free of any stains, and they should never carry even a hint of malodor.
Use linens that are able to withstand the wear and tear of commercial laundering without compromising quality or patient experience. Selecting durable yet comfortable linens will ensure you meet both patient expectations and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention healthcare laundering guidelines.
At Encompass Group LLC, we want to help you achieve a level of care quality that sets you apart from your competitors. We offer high quality, patient-focused products that meet every facility’s needs. Message me on LinkedIn or call 1-800-245-4636 to connect with me and discuss what linen solutions would be most appropriate for your acute care facility.