Infection Control Lapses in Laundry Storage and Hand Hygiene
Penalty
Summary
The facility failed to implement proper infection control practices in two key areas. First, three large barrels containing residents' clean personal laundry were observed stored in the dirty area of the laundry room, directly next to barrels containing soiled linen. The Director of Maintenance acknowledged that the clean laundry was placed in the dirty area due to lack of storage space, and the Social Services Director confirmed that clean laundry should not be stored in the dirty area. Facility policy requires that soiled and clean linen, along with their respective containers, be kept separate at all times. Second, a housekeeper was observed cleaning a resident's restroom while wearing gloves, then exiting the restroom and placing cleaning tools back on the housekeeping cart without removing gloves. The housekeeper then removed the gloves and put on a new pair without performing hand hygiene in between glove changes. The housekeeper admitted to failing to perform hand hygiene as required. Facility policy states that hand hygiene must be performed before applying non-sterile gloves.