The Benefits of Monitoring Privacy Curtains in the “Hot Zone”

The patientcare “Hot Zone” is considered the most contaminated 90 square feet in a patient’s room. The “Hot Zone” includes the patient’s bed and the 36 inch perimeter surrounding the bed and contains both hard and soft surfaces that are routinely contaminated with blood, body fluids and the shedding of the patient’s flora.

Studies indicate that microorganisms shed by patients can contaminate hospital surfaces at concentrations high enough for transmission, and that these pathogens will survive and persist for extended periods despite attempts to disinfect or remove them. In turn they can rapidly be transferred to the hands of healthcare personnel. Healthcare workers subsequently not only contaminate their hands after direct patient contact, but also after touching inanimate surfaces and equipment in the patient Zone.

Soft surfaces such as the privacy curtain frequently fly under the radar in terms of the role they may play in Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs): Multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) such as Clostridium difficile, vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE), methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), Acinetobacter baumannii and Pseudomonas aeruginosa.

As Mitchell, et al. (2015) notes… “while considerable effort is placed on cleaning and disinfection of non-porous or high-touch environmental surfaces, much less effort is placed on the procedures of cleaning and decontaminating porous, soft surfaces or healthcare textiles (e.g. privacy curtains, linen, upholstery, patient furniture or room furnishings).

The complex role that these textiles play in acquisition and retention of pathogens is further complicated by varied laundering conditions and requirements. While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and other governmental agencies provide guidance for laundering contaminated textiles, achieving optimal water temperature, drying time and dedicated process flow this can be difficult to achieve in healthcare facilities…”

Certain healthcare textiles being neglected were confirmed by DeAngelis, et al. (2013) who reported that hospitals responding to a survey indicated they only changed privacy curtains when they were “visibly soiled.” The researchers sent a 20-question survey to select geographic member of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), with 50 surveys submitted for analysis. Ninety-six percent of respondents stated “yes” to whether they use curtains in patient rooms, with only 55% having a written protocol in place.

The remaining respondents stated “other” as to how often they exchanged them. What we found most revealing was learning about respondents’ overwhelming concerns surrounding their curtain exchanges!