disposable linen

[Susan MacKinnon]

Are processing department uses reusable linen. (an outer wrapper of muslin and an inner barrier of a water repellant material) Are any of you using reusable linen or do you disposable linen. If you are disposable are you using a combination of containers and disposable paper?

We are looking at the financial implication of disposable versus reusable versus containers.

Wanting to know what others are doing.

Thanks, Susan

[SHIRLEEN VANOCKER]

Susan, I don't currently have the figures to back this up, however I have done cost studies on this in the past. The cost to launder, labor to inspect, fold , patch etc,usually is more than using disposables, plus take into consideration the patient safety factor if there is a hole in the wrap that was not detected. Cost will also depend upon the disposable wrap you use. The heavier the weight, the more expense. Rigid containers, although a big initial expense will eventually show a payback. We use a combination of rigid containers and sets wrapped in disposable wrap. hope this helps

[Harvey Johnson]

We are using both disposable wrap and containers.
I recently was approved to purchase 30 additional rigid containers after calculating numbers on a tray that gets wrapped average three times a week, including the labor cost difference, we will regain the rigid container cost in about 13 months.
Hope this helps...