Abstract

Infection Control Demand for Supplies Increases • • By Gail S. Makulowich a quickened pace to grab their hospitals' share of gloves, gowns, goggles, and other protective equipment. Their urgency is to protect patients and employees against possible cross-trans- Hospital purchasing agents are exercising their buying muscles at mission of AIDS and other infectious diseases. The soaring cost of standard infection control equipment and the expense of newer products concerns hospital administrators. Also worrisome is the scarcity of gloves. Even a deck of backup contracts do not guarantee a ready supply of this coveted item. Protective equipment is ineffective unless used properly. Here a nurse grabs a door knob with soiled gloves. (Photo courtesy of Harborview Medical Center, Seattle, Wash.) Glove Industry Backordered For example, Harborview Medical 330Center (HVMC) in Seattle, bed regional trauma hospital, is ordering 2,500 boxes of gloves per month at a cost of $54,000 per year, compared to 1,600 boxes ordered each month last Wash.,*a ably doing what we are doing. Until this morning, surgical gloves were not a problem, but now we are starting to get backorders for those. I do not know how we will resolve that because there is no alternative