How technology is driving cost savings and quality improvement in healthcare laundry management
Lost garments, incomplete wash cycles, hours wasted sorting laundry loads, the list goes on. Healthcare laundry has battled the same issues for years, holding back efficient processes as well driving up costs.
However, the healthcare laundry is evolving. With the rising pressure to meet client demands for continuous high-quality linen while dealing with labour shortages, healthcare laundry teams are pursuing new strategies to optimise and save costs.
One technology in particular is at the heart of these strategies:
RFID technology.
In this article, we’ll look at how RFID technology can enhance the efficiency and accountability of healthcare laundry teams by solving common problems.
RFID driving transformation in healthcare laundry management
Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology is increasingly being used across applications in hospitals and aged care facilities, with laundry management at the leading front.
RFID systems consist of two main components: RFID tags and RFID readers. RFID tags are electronic devices that can be attached to or embedded within an object – in this case, an item of linen or clothing.
Each tag contains a unique identifier that an RFID reader can read. The reader emits radio waves received by the tag, which then responds with its identifier.
Durable RFID tags can be affixed, sewn or inserted in garments and linen items. With tags linked to every garment and resident name, the technology allows you to automatically create a laundry inventory to assist with tracking, sorting, and locating garments.
Benefits of RFID technology for laundry management
One of the most significant benefits of RFID technology for laundry management is tracking. With automated tracking of items, the technology decreases the number of manual hours, contributing to substantial cost savings.
When clothing goes missing in a resident’s laundry, staff don’t need to waste time searching for the garment. Instead, they can use the reader to locate the item. It can also save time when sorting items for a room or resident, as the RFID tags within garments and linen can be linked to room or resident names.
RFID tracking technology can also help with the bigger picture of optimising laundry management for a better return on investment. It can provide real-time data insights that can be used to improve processes and save costs. For example, the technology can send data to a dashboard to track the utilisation of linen and generate reports on usage trends, which can inform decisions on when to purchase new or replacement linen rather than relying on guesswork.
These data insights around linen utilisation and tracking can help healthcare laundry teams drive down fixed and variable costs in both the laundry process and labour costs without compromising high-quality linen services.
3 use cases for RFID technology in healthcare laundry management
Use case #1: Finding lost garments
The biggest complaint in aged care is lost or misplaced laundry. Suppose 100 people live in an aged care facility, each with 50 clothing items. That means managing 5,000 garments through the laundry process. Even though items may have name tags, they can fade or disappear after a few washes, making it nearly impossible to sort clothes for the right resident.
Laundry teams spend a lot of time searching for misplaced garments and managing complaints. But the impact also extends to the residents and their families. Clothes can influence the welfare of residents and families regarding hygiene and sentiment. Clothes are personal items, and the loss of them can impact their mood and well-being while also resulting in conflict between the facilities and the residents’ families.
However, with a durable RFID tag designed for the laundry industry, employees can use a hand-held reader to detect the garment and return it to the owner. With RFID tags, even lost socks become a problem of the past.
Use case #2: Clothes delivery confirmation
Sorting and delivering clean items to the right room was once time-consuming for laundry teams, but RFID technology makes it a breeze.
Garment tags can be linked to a resident or room, which means staff can use RFID readers to sort items quickly according to the correct location.
But advanced technology allows you to go further with Bluetooth-enabled trolley racks. Garment tags scan automatically to trigger an LED light above each owner’s rack, meaning staff can quickly place the right garment in the right rack. This not only speeds up the final stage of the laundry process but also means there’s less room for error. It’s easy to track which laundry has been delivered and confirm it has gone to the right room.
Use case #3: Keep up to date with wash status
Ensuring compliance and high patient or resident care and cleanliness standards requires transparency around washing effectiveness. This means tracking when items are washed, how often, which wash cycle is used, and so on.
This level of wash data is possible with tracking technologies. They can record the wash status of every item, including the number and date of each wash.
The benefits extend beyond compliance to deliver the potential for cost savings. With real-time tracking, you can understand how many wash cycles each item has been through, which can tell you their status and how close they are to needing replacement. This proactive approach to laundry management can improve budget forecasting as you can understand when to invest in new linen rather than replace it before it’s due.
Real-time data that drives cost savings and quality improvement
Laundry costs can be a significant percentage of your operational budget, so how can technology help you improve laundry cost-effectiveness?
Real-time data from automated technology such as RFID tags can provide better insights into laundry operations, from managing manual labour to minimizing the loss of garments.
Managing manual labour, in particular, can provide huge savings, especially amid labour shortages, which drive up labour costs. Manually tracking linen items and searching for lost items can be time-consuming for laundry teams and take them away from their critical tasks. However, investing in technology can provide tracking and sorting efficiencies that ensure your staff can do their best, most efficient work.
The future of healthcare laundry management
As we look towards the future, integrating technology into laundry management emerges as a strategic and forward-thinking investment that not only streamlines processes and saves costs but also contributes to the overall well-being and quality of care within healthcare and aged care facilities.
By leveraging RFID and related technologies for the tracking, sorting and auditing of linen and laundry, facilities stand not only to enhance operational efficiency and reduce costs but also to elevate cleanliness standards and improve client satisfaction.
Want to save costs and improve the efficiency of your healthcare laundry management? Talk to us about how Asepsis Loop unlocks savings and productivity gains in the laundry process.