About This Project

Infectious diseases like Ebola, Zika, HIV, hepatitis C, and MRSA are notable risks to healthcare workers with exposure to patients and environments that are contaminated with these pathogens. What is less known is the risk that the contaminated patient linen pose to workers responsible for handling, transporting, and laundering them. This research will quantify that risk, their perception about job hazards and assess exposures.

Ask the Scientists

What is the context of this research?

Those working in laundries in healthcare facilities around the world are typically overlooked with regard to their occupational exposure to infectious disease. They are required to process laundry that is often visibly contaminated with blood and body fluids. Workers are often not given access to personal protective equipment or engineering controls that allow them to do their jobs safely and effectively. With the pressures on healthcare facilities to see more patients in less time, if we don't address these hazards to this group now, we will continue to undermine the health and wellness of those working in healthcare in these critical support functions.

What is the significance of this project?

During public health threats, we spend a great deal of time focused on risks to nurses, doctors, and other bedside healthcare workers, but we do not spend a significant enough time focused on those providing vital services to healthcare, such as those handling, transporting, and processing (sorting, washing, drying) linens, bedding, gowns, and other textiles generated in healthcare settings. As hourly workers in healthcare make up the largest percent of under-served employees, we owe them a greater focus. This project will give laundry workers a voice. It is designed to capture not only their perspectives on the work and its risks, but also biological samples to determine if their microbiological colonization rates reflect those risks.

What are the goals of the project?

The goals of this project include the following: review published literature detailing risks to laundry workers and exposure to infectious disease and design an employee/staff survey to capture data on perception of risk, job duties, and their needs. We will then conduct employee surveys and interviews in 2-4 healthcare facilities and perform nasal swab samples to quantify colonization with drug resistant MRSA as a marker for risk. We will analyze survey, interview, and biological sample data results and develop a manuscript to submit to a peer-reviewed journal. To make the results immediately actionable, we will develop a flyer and infographics to be used in hospitals to increase awareness about laundry worker exposure to infectious microorganisms.