Without real-time visibility into linen status or location, hospital linen managers typically are forced to overstock in order to meet fulfillment needs and compensate for losses. With a contactless RFID management platform, managers can easily access valuable data needed to manage and control their extensive linen stocks over many locations, saving money and staff time, as well as improving visibility in laundry billing.
How to Track Linens Using RFID
Discreet, durable RFID tags are easily embedded into hospital linens, reusable scrubs and uniforms – either sewn in or attached with thermoadhesive – allowing each item to be automatically tracked throughout the cleaning, dispatch and collection process. With rugged RFID tags that are safe for use in medical environments, such as UHF LinTRAK tags, fixed or handheld RFID scanners make quick work of inventory, enabling hundreds of textile assets to be reliably processed in seconds. Moreover, because LinTRAK tags are MR conditional, a patient wearing a tagged hospital gown can be safely scanned in an MR system.
The HID® Acuity Platform combines industry-leading RFID technology (tags and scanning stations), software and integration services to deliver a fully integrated linen management solution. Together, these components provide shared visibility to accurately track linens across hospital departments and various laundry providers.This system creates a seamless, automated solution that significantly reduces linen losses, minimizes costs, streamlines operations and meets hygiene compliance, helping to improve the overall patient experience.Â
Benefits of RFID for Hospital Linen Management
By improving intelligent visibility and automating processes, contactless RFID technology provides real-time inventory visibility into hospital linen and reusable scrubs locations, inventory levels and usage. This significantly reduces errors and time spent manually tracking linens, freeing up staff for patient care and saving money. Moreover, RFID automates sorting and tracking of soiled linens, gowns and contaminated textiles through commercial healthcare laundries. This reduces human contact and ensures linens are hygienically cleaned with proper washing cycles and detergents, helping to protect hospital workers, patients and communities from infection risks due to soiled textiles.
In contamination events, RFID enables fast identification and recall of affected items, preventing the spread of pathogens to patient areas by isolating improperly cleaned textiles and alerting staff to hygiene breaches. Likewise, RFID can be used to ensure healthcare apparel is properly disinfected, which home laundering of scrubs often fails to do.
With an advanced digital linen management platform, shared visibility between hospitals and laundry providers not only streamlines communication and accountability, but also reduces the need for overstocking linens. The HID Acuity Platform offers a user-friendly web portal and interactive dashboard to enable hospital linen professionals to avoid shortages by better managing daily linen requirements, speeding up replenishment across departments. And by understanding where and how linen goes missing, hospitals and healthcare facilities can take corrective actions to further reduce costs.
Spokesperson, Large hospital in Singapore
