Citing new evidence of infection risks associated with poorly laundered surgical attire, AORN is taking a strong stance against the home laundering of scrubs and personal protective equipment in a new recommended practice currently up for public comment.

The revised Recommended Practice for Surgical Attire states that scrubs and PPE should be laundered in a healthcare-approved or accredited laundry facility, not in the home.

AORN had previously recommended against laundering scrubs in the home, but acknowledged that some facilities require it and therefore provided guidelines for nurses who did wash their own surgical attire. The newly revised draft provides no guidelines for home laundering and maintains that "healthcare-approved and accredited laundry facilities are preferred because they follow industry standards."

Perioperative Nursing Specialist Joan Blanchard, RN, BSN, MSS, CNOR, CIC, who was involved in writing the draft, says the revision was "all based on evidence" showing that home laundering is "probably not a good thing to be doing."

The document up for public comment includes links to several studies showing that microbes can survive on textiles used in surgical attire for long periods and that home laundering is "less effective for cleaning surgical attire than attire laundered by healthcare facilities or commercial laundries." Ms. Blanchard says the draft will be updated later this week after another new study linking disease transmission to a laundry process is presented at the Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections. The abstract for that study is not yet available.

Click here to read the new recommended practice and submit your comments.

Irene Tsikitas