PRODUCT & SERVICE LINE REPORTS
bed, mattress maintenance Products, processes, priorities must be adjusted, experts say by Rick Dana Barlow
in the New York Post (March 21, 2019) based on a research study conducted by OnePoll for Slumber Cloud.
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However, this doesn’t account for lying in a hospital bed or stretcher or a long-term care facility bed, which likely – and logically – increases those numbers. From a healthcare perspective, experts say
that inpatients spend a great deal of time in bed (whether stationary in rooms or in transit around the facility) and that mat- tresses represent the No. 2 touchpoint for caregivers and potentially the No. 1 touch- point for patients. This raises the question about a healthcare organization’s bed and mattress maintenance procedures, which include cleaning, disin- fecting, sterilizing, repairing and even replac- ing when necessary. Healthcare Purchasing News reached out to more than a half dozen experts in beds, mattresses, and disinfection and sterilization products and procedures for their insights in a brief, non-scientifi c poll.
Save for laundering linens and sheets, healthcare staffers remain marginally bet- ter than ordinary citizens at home when it comes to maintaining hygiene with their beds – but then they have to be because of all the exposure to bacterial and viral micro- organisms that cause infections.
Report card HPN asked these experts to assess their impressions of how well healthcare organiza- tions keep their beds and mattresses hygienic.
n average, Americans will spend 36 years in bed over the course of their lifetime, according to a report
Nearly 85% responded “fair” to “poor” with the majority of that group leaning toward fair (67%). At the extremes, no one rated efforts as excellent but at the same time no one classi- fi ed efforts at those need to be maintained Roughly a third, however, rated efforts as “good,” based largely on product offerings in active use and a multidisciplinary program in place to maintain beds and mattresses. “When looking at cleaning, disinfecting, sterilizing, repairing it is important that health systems or organizations have stan- dard work in place designed to hardwire the practice of ensuring that beds and surfaces are maintained,” James B. Waddell, BLS, ICRA, CSCMP, SW Patient Care Support Manager, Nursing Administration, Cone Health, said. “In order for the process to be effec- tive, it takes a multidisci- plinary effort of all areas to sustain standard work.” Waddell also serves as Capital Service Line Chair, IT Administrator and Unit-Based Fit Tester for the health system.
James B. Waddell
Root causes? HPN then posed an appropriate follow-up to the bed and mattress maintenance assessment question on what experts attribute their initial response. They could choose more than one option among fi ve specifi c reasons or derive one of their own. “Lack of priority (among so many other growing priorities)” led the tally with 67%, followed by “failure/lack of follow- ing appropriate and optimal cleaning/
44 September 2022 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS •
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disinfecting/sterilizing/repair instructions and protocols” from product manufacturers at 50%. Only a third indicated a “failure/ lack of appropriate and optimal cleaning/ disinfecting/sterilizing/repair instructions and protocols.” While some claimed hospital staffers didn’t have necessary instructions, more expressed they didn’t adhere to what- ever instructions they had anyway. Another third chose a simple “lack of awareness” as the culprit.
Experts acknowledge the challenges and
try to place activities – or lack thereof – in contet. taffi ng and timing play a key role. “It is no secret hospitals are short-staffed
and need to quickly turn over hospital beds for the next patient,” indicated Jessica Mathieson, General Manager
and Vice
President, Acute Care, Stryker Corp. “Sometimes the cleaning/disinfecting/ sterilization/repairing pro-
Jessica Mathieson
cess can be rushed because of this tight win- dow of opportunity and very few staff on hand. In addition, not all cleaning products are created equal, and some wipes that are used may congeal fl uids rather than disinfect and sterilize surfaces. If every hospital adopted a product such as Stryker’s SideKick cleaning and disinfecting solutions into their cleaning procedure, this would help reduce time taken, staff needed, and wipes used, which in turn leads to a safer and cleaner environment.” But Mathieson urges caution in that this issue isn’t “as black and white as it seems,” she noted. “Deeper in, it’s not that facilities
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