We Can No Longer Ignore the Elephant in the Patient's Room

The “elephant” in a patient’s room is the privacy curtain. Privacy curtains occupy more than 500 square feet of hands-on surface area in a typical double-room occupancy. Cubicle curtains are the sixth most-touched surface in the non-ICU hospital room, trailing only bed rails, over-bed tables, IV pump, bed surface and tubing. Specific to defining high touch surfaces, this research evidences the cubicle curtain as only high touch ‘soft surface’ within the non-ICU patient room

The “leading edge” of hospital privacy curtains in the medical intensive care unit is usually one of the most contaminated surfaces. Four key points: 1) health care workers frequently touch hospital curtains with inconsistent hand hygiene, 2) The edges of curtains are more highly colonized with pathogenic bacteria, 3) All curtains are colonized with opportunistic fungi, and 4) the entire hospital curtain should be considered a potential source of infection. It should be of no surprise that the cubicle curtain’s leading edge is touched by nearly everyone who approaches the patient zone – doctors, nurses, support staff, maintenance, and visitors.

A 2018 article in the American Journal of Infection Control explained the mechanics this way: "Although soft surfaces such as linens and clothing can be laundered. Fomites [objects or materials which are likely to carry infection] can become sources of contamination when ill patients shed large numbers of microbes via body secretions, including blood, feces, urine, saliva, and nasal fluid.

Contact with these soft surfaces may lead to direct contact with the bodily secretions and microbes aerosolized via talking, sneezing, coughing, and vomiting. Contact of unwashed hands with soft surface fomites can also lead to pathogen transmission and transfer to other points or other surfaces in the building.”

Healthcare Purchasing News put it even more bluntly: “Logic tells us that textiles in the healthcare setting can easily be a source of cross-contamination, putting patients, their visitors, and staff at risk for acquiring an infection.” Adding later, “going through hundreds or thousands of touches over months or years, there is no doubt that the microbes infesting them might play a role in HAI transmission.”?

Another study pins much of the blame on the fabrics themselves. S. aureus and Pseudomonas aeruginosa can bind to acrylic, polyester and wool at extremely high ratios. Other studies have shown that staphylococci, enterococci and fungus can survive on fabric for days or weeks and tend to survive longer on polyester than on cotton.?

Clostridium difficile spores can survive temperatures and chemical treatment of typical hospital laundering cycles even allowing cross-contamination of C. diff. spores from bed linen during a wash cycle.

Although soft surfaces such as linens and clothing can be laundered. Fomites [objects or materials which are likely to carry infection] can become sources of contamination when ill patients shed large numbers of microbes via body secretions, including blood, feces, urine, saliva, and nasal fluid. Contact with these soft surfaces may lead to direct contact with the bodily secretions and microbes aerosolized by vomiting, talking, breathing, sneezing and coughing.

And while many hospital systems continue to use curtains made of polyester and other fabrics out of habit or a perception of lower cost, over fifty percent of healthcare professionals are now seeking alternatives as evidenced by product specification shifts to a disposable/100% recyclable cubicle curtain system solution.

Look to https://link.kleenedge.com/3I0nfWh for a fresh, crisp, clean curtain that checks all the boxes for patient satisfaction, infection prevention, circular economy, EVS lean work practices and doesn't break the bank.