Document Type
Poster
Publication Date
2025-11
Abstract
In the world of athletic training, a task that is not often considered is that of completing laundry. It is a task that can occur quite frequently based on the setting, population, and several other variables. The setting for this quality improvement project is Heidt athletic training room, which is the host of numerous sports that occur through fall, winter, and spring, which accounts for almost 200 athletes but only four athletic trainers. With such a large number of athletes, many of whom complete some form of rehabilitation and/or treatment for an injury, many towels may be used during and/or after these interventions. Along with the frequent use of towels, hot packs and the accompanied sleeves are used daily, but these sleeves are not placed in the bin with the towels after one use because there are only fifteen total sleeves available but many athletes who use them each day. As stated, laundry is not always the athletic trainer’s top priority, so it has become part of their routine to only wash the hot pack sleeves once a month, which is not the most sanitary option and the washing of these sleeves is only communicated by verbal communication and no documentation system. The goal of this quality improvement project was to create a sign-up sheet for the athletic trainers in Heidt to use to increase the frequency of the hot pack sleeves being washed from once a month to twice a month, as well as a system to document the exact date that they were washed and by whom. The pre-change data that was collected before the start of this quality improvement project show showed that the sleeves were only washed twice in the span of two months, meaning that the success rate was at 50%. Following the implementation of this project the sleeves were washed four times hitting the span of two months, meaning that the implantation if this project led to an 80% success rate. A possible limitation for this project was the concern that if all of the hot packs were cleaned at one time then athletes might not have had access to this form of thermotherapy. While this project's main purpose is to increase the overall hygiene in this athletic training facility it also helped create a sense of shared accountability between these staff members.
Recommended Citation
Gault, Madelyn, "Increasing the Frequency with Which the Hot Pack Sleeves Are Washed: A Quality Improvement Report" (2025). Athletic Training Case Studies. 19.
https://www.exhibit.xavier.edu/at_casestudies/19
