Health Care Need

Health care is the prevention, treatment, and management of illness, and the preservation of health through a range of services. Health care embraces all the goods and services designed to promote health, including preventive, curative and palliative interventions, whether directed to individuals or to populations.

The health care industry continuously strives to provide the best possible care that is safe and trust worthy for patients and health care workers. In doing so, health care industry confronts several challenges. The biggest one of them is to maintain an environment that is free from any sort of contamination.

Microbial contamination is quite common in any health care sector and is the harshest reality that the health care industry has to face at hospitals, health care centers, clinics and even pharmaceutical manufacturing units.

In Hospitals & Health Care Centers

There are many potential sources of microbiological contamination in hospitals and as many processes within hospitals are interrelated, bacteria are easily spread and can infect a whole hospital unless stringent controls are in place.

For instance, bacteria can initially be transferred to the patient through contact with the contaminated sheet. It is transferred to the nurse while attending to this patient. While the bacteria on the patient, on the patient's clothing and in the patient's bed linen continue to grow, the hospital employee, having failed to wash his/her hands, inadvertently transfers the bacteria to their own uniform, to the patient's chart, to general equipment in use on the ward, as well as to other in-patients with whom the employee is dealing. In the meantime, the next employee may well have washed their hands after dealing with the first patient, but not after handling that patient's records. The transfer of the bacteria by this employee quickly occurs as the ward rounds are completed. Clinical teams may well cover 15-20 wards in a single ward round. Nurses will often cover a number of wards, for instance, and patients themselves may also be transferred from one ward to another during the course of a single day. By the end of the day, it is likely that the initial bacterium will have multiplied and spread to a number of wards and even beyond the hospital itself as visitors enter and leave the hospital. Additionally, staff may wear potentially infected uniforms as they return home at the end of their shift.

Laundry's Importance In Containment

The importance of laundry is often underestimated when we think about patient care, despite indications that good hospital laundry practice can reduce bio-contamination levels. Hospital acquired infections (HAI) affect the health and recovery of tens of thousands of patients and can cause death. No one in the healthcare environment can afford to ignore the role of laundry in the fight against lethal bacteria. Sheets, gowns, uniforms, towels, cleaning tools (mops, cloths) and ward furnishings are crucial 'touch points' for anyone working in or visiting a hospital. They are a gateway for infections: if properly controlled, the laundry process can limit the spread of bactena; if not, the handling of the laundered item will ensure swift bio-contamination throughout the hospital. Moreover, the warm, damp environment of a laundry room can make it an excellent breeding ground for bacteria, rather than a decontamination zone.

In Pharmaceutical Manufacturing

Pharmaceutical manufacturing gives maximum attention towards clean environment & minimum contamination & bioburden.

Maximum care is taken with regard to flooring, walls, ceiling, cooling systems, air handing units, S. S. Machineries & clothing.

Pharmaceutical products - more commonly known as medicines or drugs - are a fundamental component of both modern and traditional medicine. It is essential that such products are safe, effective, and of good quality, and are prescribed and used rationally.

Medical Devices, Drugs and Clinical Procedures are some of the most important Health Technologies, which are in a constant development due to the advances of Science and Technology. Health Technologies are used by healthcare practitioners for prevention, diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation, and their appropriate use will enhance quality, safety and effectiveness of health care services delivery.

Number of studies have been done on the release of total particulate by human. Most of the times static is generated on garments & that cross contamination may occur during the movement from one department to another department. It is very important to achieve successful functioning of quality systems which requires continuous monitoring.