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I was wondering if any one has incite on soluble bags in laundry. I see in the new standard that they are mentioned however my predecessor had banned them out of the service, and as she has left I cant find out why.
I guess my question is do you use them or not, and if you don’t is there a reason?
my thoughts are environment, machine or do they dissolve too quickly?
Hi Michelle
There are a number of reasons who soluble alginate stitching bags are no longer used much. They tend to start dissolving the stitching when in contact with warm fluid, so they are not very good at containing body fluids. The plastic strip’s have to be manually taken from the washed load before it is placed in the dryer and it causes issues.
The main reason we previously used soluble bags inside cloth linen bags was to contain moisture, but as previously said thus doesn’t work that well. Many laundries now have either fluid resistant linen bags available,or allow facilities to put heavily soaked linen into clear plastic bags that can be decanted manually into washers.
We also used to use alginate stitched bags for cytotoxic linen, but now we use strong purple plastic bags which are carefully manually decanted by laundry staff, as the alginate bags would start to dissolve and create a hazard in transit to the laundry.
There may be some situations where alginate stitched bags are useful in used linen management, but we certainly no longer use them at all.
My thoughts, anyway, from a mainly acute care focus.
Cheers
MichaelMichael Wishart
Infection Control Coordinator
St Vincent's Private Hospital Northside & St Vincent's Private Hospital Brisbane
Brisbane, QLD
michael.wishart@svha.org.auHi Michelle,
The residential aged care setting may approach things differently to the acute sector where risk reduction mechanisms are not in place/available.
For example: The ventilation is often minimal and laundry size usually small- to house both unclean and clean areas. Aged Care laundry staff are not routinely in the same level of PPE as a large industrial laundry. Staff training in soiled laundry management can vary. Transmission risks due to decanting from plastic bags may present – these plastic bags may also be required to be placed in clinical waste – depending on the scenario/pathogen (adding cost). Full fluid resistant linen bags are not generally purchased in aged care, and consistent colour coding practices are recommended.
Where risks can potentially be reduced by the use of soluble bags – aged care organisations do use them.
There are many brands of soluble bags and determining the right one for the service and machine wash (thermal or Ozone disinfection) is beneficial.
Bagging both soluble and linen bag at the point of care can reduce risks. Careful handling and transport of soiled bagged linen is well documented to reduce organism movement and bag breakage. Wrapping sodden items in a dry towel prior to placing in the soluble bag reduces risk of soluble bag breakage due to fluid exposure. On completion of wash the remains of the soluble bag can simply be removed (it is clean/disinfected) and placed into general waste.Hope that helps.
Hi Michelle
Soluble Alginate bags ‘Water-soluble bags’ are
(1) bags that dissolve or break apart when processed in a washing machine
and/or
(2) impermeable bags with a water- soluble seam or tie.
They are available from some suppliers in red, purple and yellow colours.We use alginate bags with a tie for personal linen that is heavily soiled with body substances or other fluids that have a potential to leak.
Personal linen items are placed into an alginate bag are sealed by tying and securing around the neck of the bag before being placed into the usual fabric linen bag at point of use to prevent puncture or tearing and transported to our onsite laundry.
Cytotoxic Linen is placed in purple coloured alginate bags with a tie and then placed into a linen bag following the same process.Manufacturer’s guidelines state the temperature the bag or tie will dissolve – as personal items are soiled, they are always put through a hot wash cycle regardless.
During the initial cold flush cycle, the bag opens allowing contact with the linen by the wash water.
At the end of the cycle the red plastic bag is removed from the drum at the end of the wash before going in to the dryer – the plastic is disinfected during the hot wash cycle
The issue laundry staff have raised are:1. if the personal items in the alginate bags include woolens or other garments that can’t go into a hot wash cycle these aren’t separated as the personal linen in an alginate bag is not opened and sorted. This can result in shrinkage of these types of garments/clothing.
2. Care staff sometimes use a knot to seal the bag instead of using the alginate bag tie – the bag will not empty and remains closed if tied in a knot to seal
3. If items placed in the alginate bag are very wet, the break apart bags/or tie starts dissolving and leaking into the fabric linen bag. This result is in laundry staff being exposed to heavily soiled linen/body substances/fluids. To mitigate this if there is a delay in laundering very wet /soiled linen care staff can wrap personal clothing in dry linen at the point of care before placing into the alginate bag and into the fabric line bag.
