Posted January 17, 2008
Patient Safety and Quality Healthcare: Product News
VA Hospital Draws Curtain on Innovation That Could Help Reduce Spiraling Cost of Hospital Maintenance Nationwide
Palm Beach, Florida, January 8, 2007 — Veterans Affairs Medical Center is about to draw the curtain on an innovation that could help reduce the spiraling cost of healthcare nationwide.
The local VA hospital is the first in the area to adopt a privacy curtain for hospital beds that is literally a snap to remove and requires far less maintenance than conventional hospital bed curtains. The innovation called Simply 66 could save maintenance personnel many hours it takes to remove and clean conventional privacy curtains.
The name comes from 66-inch square panels fastened to the top mesh required to permit water passage from sprinklers in case of fire. The one-size-fits-all snap panels allow each 66-inch section to be removed or added one at a time, without needing a ladder. Panels overlap to ensure patient privacy and are available in any pattern from a variety of Healthcare fabric mills.
"If a patient or member of the hospital staff soils a small section of a traditional cubicle curtain, health codes require that the entire cubicle curtain be replaced for laundering," said Stephanie Serio, CEO of Cubicle Curtain Factory. "It's time consuming and costly for the facility, as Environmental Services/Housekeeping staff must search through stocks of replacement curtains to find the correct size."
"With Simply 66, hospital personnel can go through the facility with a cart loaded with clean panels and replace soiled 66-inch panels only as needed, one at a time, affording savings to hospitals in labor and laundry costs," said Karen Serio, VP of Government Sales of Cubicle Curtain Factory.
Simply 66 snap system cubicle curtains will alleviate the danger and liability associated with replacement of traditional privacy curtains. Since the vast majority of hospitals have ceiling heights of 96" or greater, Housekeeping staff must use a ladder to reach the top of the curtain to unhook it from the hooks in the ceiling track. There is always a risk of injury as hospital employees could fall while changing a soiled cubicle curtain.
Cubicle Curtain Factory (http://cubiclecurtainfactory.com/) is a woman-owned business offering a full line of mill-direct designer fabrics and tone-on fabrics for cubicle curtains for hospital privacy. The company directs a portion of each sale to charities.
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