Hoppers vs. ???? --- please give your input!

[sweechic]

I have recently been assigned the task of trying to determine what to do about our hopper. The facility I currently work at is working on culture change so I guess my first question is whether anyone has found an appropriate substitute for the hoppers. (I am not sure if this is even possible since we DO need a way to clean out soiled linens without violating infection control standards.)

Secondly, has anyone come up with a way to decrease the amount of back splash that tends to come along with using the hoppers? My staff currently uses the appropriate PPE (including gowns) while using the hopper, but I would like to find an alternative if possible. I also wonder if the spray of the water tends to aerosolize the matter in the linens.

I have done some research into the shields available on the market. Does anyone have input on those? Do they work; what are drawbacks; etc. Any and all input will help greatly!!

Thanks everyone!

[qcumba]

whats a hopper?

[sweechic]

Wow. Ok, so maybe our hoppers are way more outdated than I thought. :chuckle It's basically a large tub for washing the "chunks", so to speak, out of the soiled linens before they go down to laundry. I am definitely open to any and all input. How does your facility handle severely soiled linens? Is nursing responsible for taking care of this before it goes down to laundry, or is it taken care of totally by the laundry department? I would definitely like to hear how others handle this.

[ayla2004, ASN, RN]

oh we call that a sluice an i sluice partients soiled clothing before giving it to a familliy member to take home.

our soiled lined go in a alginate bag(disolvable) and then into an other red abg(soiled/contimated linens) laundry staff dont handle the soiled/contaminatedlinen directly.

[ICU_JOSIE, MSN, RN]

oh we call that a sluice an i sluice partients soiled clothing before giving it to a familliy member to take home.

our soiled lined go in a alginate bag(disolvable) and then into an other red abg(soiled/contimated linens) laundry staff dont handle the soiled/contaminatedlinen directly.

I remember the days when I used to work for the NHS .... but that's not the practice here in the US (maybe not all hospitals), in our facility, soiled linen are directly placed in a linen "bin" , housekeeping collects them and an outside contractor washes the linen for us.