PROTECT AGAINST CROSS CONTAMINATION

Can your curtains cut down on 45 billion dollars in Americans’ health care costs and save lives?  That may sound like an unreasonable expectation for a hospital privacy curtain.  We’ll get back to it.  Instead a different question; how often do you change your curtains? Do you launder them or dispose of them? While there are no current universal standards or guidelines for how often curtains should be changed and whether permanent replacement or laundering is better, the process remains. Someone must remove the existing curtain and put a new one in its place.  That seems simple enough, but you know better.

 With the standard curtains used in most hospitals this process requires considerable effort.  Either a janitor or maintenance worker must get a ladder, and remove the old curtain.  They must find the properly sized curtain from a storage closet.  Climb back on to the ladder and attach the new one using snaps or hooks.  While he is doing this he’s not doing his other tasks, he’s up on a ladder increasing his risk for a lost time accident.

 In addition to the labor involved it’s time consuming and that’s a problem because the room, or exam area cannot be occupied until the curtain is back up.  That’s time a patient spends sitting in a chair in a possibly crowded waiting room.  If infected with a contagious disease that increases exposure to others. 

 The award winning ZipQuick® system from Kemtex®  fixes this problem once and for all with a curtain that can be changed out in seconds.  No special tools needed and if a person can dress themselves they have all the skill sets required to remove the old curtain and replace the new one.  The process is further simplified with a color coded sizing system.  That means no hunting for the right sized curtain for the one you are replacing.  

 So how about that crazy question about your curtains? Well according to the CDC one out of every 31 patients in a U.S. hospital will contract an infection from that very same hospital. These illnesses will run Americans $45 billion dollars in additional healthcare costs. Almost half of these infections in patients with already weakened immune systems due to injury, illness, or recent surgical procedures are caused by contaminated hands and the surfaces they touch.  

Yes, that includes your privacy curtains.

 In 2018 10 freshly laundered curtains in a burn unit were tracked as part of a study.  By day 14 9 of the curtains tested positive for MRSA despite the fact that none of the rooms they were placed in had been occupied by MRSA infected patients.  So just change the curtains; right? 

 Half of all hospitals don’t have an official policy for when to change a curtain.  A recent paper on soft surface contamination revealed that 37% of respondents to a survey on hospital privacy curtains in patient rooms admitted they only change them when visibly soiled. 13% said they were changed monthly, 13 said every three months, and yet another 13 only changed them on an annual basis. Time, convenience, and cost are the contributing factors for this.

 ZipQuick® is the solution.  Fast, simple, and convenient.  ZipQuick® works with your existing curtain track.  Simply measure the track length and the floor to ceiling height.  Select the upper fabric mesh section and install it once.  Curtains are attached and detached with an industrial strength zipper.

 ZipQuick® curtains are also available in a disposable version, and versions specially designed to increase privacy and dampen sound. Curtains can be manufactured in a variety of colors and fabrics.  Each Curtain comes with a Plastic Baton that is attached to one of the reinforced connection loops sewn-in to each end of the curtain.  Using this baton to open and close the curtain can help to reduce the potential for cross-contamination. Call us for a free consultation.  One of our design specialists will assist you with sizing, and fabric selection. Save money, save time, save lives.  ZipQuick® from Kemtex®.