Case Study
Happier, less-stressed hospital staff
Rehab hospital sees happier, less-stressed staff with Polytex Automated Workwear Management Solution.
Background
This rehabilitation hospital in Tel Aviv, Israel, operates 12 departments with 365 beds, along with 20 clinics and institutes, and a total staff of approximately 600. Every day, the rehabilitation hospital deals with one ton of laundry, half of which is workwear. The hospital‘s in-house laundry room staff handles workwear distribution, requiring them to sort half a ton of clean garments every morning and simultaneously hand them out to waiting medical staff.
Top Five Achievements
With the Polytex solution, the hospital has achieved its goal of reducing pressure on all staff members before and during each shift.
- Higher job satisfaction
- Less stress for laundry and medical staff
- Always-available uniforms
- Enhanced productivity
- Streamlined logistics
Customer Testimonials
Customer Needs
The Logistics and Procurement Manager wanted to simplify the daily process for them and ensure clean uniforms would be available on weekends and holidays. He was also concerned about the wellbeing of medical staff members, who had to arrive up to half an hour before their morning shift to get in line for clean clothing. The whole experience was time-consuming and frustrating for medical staff and stressful for laundry room workers.
Requirements
The hospital needed a solution that would improve workwear convenience for its medical team and make workwear distribution less hectic for the laundry room staff.
- Reduce stress: Ultimately, the goal of the system was to benefit employees, and minimize the anxiety associated with the start of each shift.
- Save time for medical staff: With staff members needing clean uniforms to start each shift, The hospital wanted to eliminate the long lines in the laundry room that forced people to come in early or be late starting work.
- Increase laundry room productivity: Similarly, The hospital wanted to empower the laundry team with a simpler, less time-consuming workwear distribution process.
- Ensure 24/7 availability: Clean uniforms had to be available in the right sizes, at the start of each shift – including during nights, weekends, and holidays, with the option to change uniforms mid- shift, if needed.
The Solution
In 2018, after seeing Polytex solutions in action at a nearby hospital, the rehabilitation hospital‘s management installed two Polytex D300 dispensing units and two return units. A third Polytex D200 Pro workwear dispensing unit was installed in 2021.
- Streamlined procedures: Laundry workers fill up the dispensing units once or twice a day. Clean uniforms, in the right color and size, are always available to medical staff, in a matter of minutes. Medical staff no longer waste time before their shift lining up for workwear, and laundry room workers don’t have to sort through half a ton of uniforms in a high-stress rush.
- Faster, more convenient distribution: Using a personal swipe card, staff take clean uniforms and return dirty ones from dedicated machines that operate 24/7. The process is dramatically faster and easier than the previous manual distribution system.
- Customized solution: Based on the hospital‘s feedback post-installation, Polytex optimized certain functionality in the machines, provided staff training and optimized procedures to suit the hospital’s unique requirements.
Results
The Polytex automated workwear management solution has significantly increased convenience for medical staff and made the laundry team’s job easier, more productive and less stressful.
- Happier staff
- Staff members no longer waste time waiting in line for uniforms. This relieves pressure on the laundry workers and enables them to work quicker and more efficiently.
- 24/7 workwear availability
- The Polytex units increased storage space, accommodating additional uniforms. Each worker now has several sets allocated to them in the system, and they can change clothes whenever needed. This includes during holidays and long weekends, and even mid-shift.
- Simplified logistics
- The Polytex automated workwear management solution helps with laundry logistics, simplifying uniform distribution and collection and minimizing manual labor. While this has not reduced the need for laundry personnel, which was not the goal, implementing these machines has staved off the need to hire more staff.
- Increased productivity
- Medical staff save up to 30 minutes of their day, leaving them with more time and energy to devote to patient care. With a simplified workwear handling process, the laundry team is freed to handle other tasks.
