Section 0940-05-16-.17 - HOSPITAL LAUNDRY MANAGEMENT(1) The Chief Executive Officer or Administrator of the hospital must appoint a person to manage the laundry and linen service who is qualified for the position by education, training and experience.(2) The supervisor of the laundry must be responsible for the following:(a) Establishing a laundry service within the hospital or by a contract service that provides the hospital with sufficient, clean, sanitary linen at all times;(b) Knowing and enforcing infection control rules and regulations for the hospital laundry service;(c) Conducting a training or orientation course and maintaining a record of same to assure that all laundry-service employees are familiar with the appropriate infection control procedures;(d) Assuring that collecting, packaging, transporting and storage of soiled, contaminated and clean linen is accomplished in accordance with the appropriate infection control rule, regulation and procedure;(e) Assuring that any contract laundry service complies with infection control rules, regulations or procedures to prevent microbial dissemination within the hospital or to the public. Periodic inspections of the contract laundry facility must be conducted by the hospital; and(f) Being a member of the infection control committee or reporting to the staff relative to unusual infection control circumstances in writing.(3) Bacterial checks of the laundry, storage areas and clean linen must be accomplished by the hospital laboratory staff when a need is demonstrated and recorded. Reports to the infection control staff of the findings must be accomplished by the laboratory staff.Tenn. Comp. R. & Regs. 0940-05-16-.17
Original rule filed May 26, 1988; effective July 11, 1988.Authority: T.C.A. § 33-2-504.