Many healthcare provider organizations (64 percent) require employees to clean some uniforms in their home, but 45 percent of employees in those organizations receive no training on how to do so properly, according to research from TRSA.
Additionally, in facilities that require workers to clean their lab coats in their home, they suspect that the lab coats are cleaned four times per week or less (78 percent).
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This raises infection control issues, as organizations like the Society of Healthcare Epidemiology in America has suggested that healthcare apparel, like white coats, play a role in the transmission of disease. The guidance even suggested eliminating the coat altogether to reduce contamination risks.
But studies have shown that healthcare consumers tend to prefer a physician who wears a white coat. The TRSA survey found that most consumers (83 percent) believe that having a professional cleaner launder the lab coats will result in cleaner lab coats than if the worker is responsible for cleaning it in their home.
TRSA surveyed 50 uniform and textile rental decision-makers in the healthcare sector, as well as 700 adult consumers, to gain this insight.