Identifying reverse exchange practices: a comparative study of laundry logistics in public hospitals (Thailand)

Abstract

The effective reverse exchange of healthcare products such as laundry within a hospital environment can support the health system, for achieving the highest goal: ‘to provide regular and timely supply of clean linen to the satisfaction of patients and staff’ (Srikar et al., 2015, p. 593). Previous studies by Bandoophanit et al. (2015, 2017) assert there are constant shortages of linen availability in many Thai public hospitals which can undermine the efficacy of laundry management and quality of medical treatment. This study investigates the practices, culture, and operational performance of three large-sized public hospitals (700-2,000 beds) located in Thailand reflecting on the application of Reverse Exchanges (R/E) theory. This study contributes to the Thai healthcare agenda, a core mission of which is to “Develop the health system with quality, efficiency and equality; with participation of the people, communities and all sectors for good health of all Thai people in order to achieve a good and sustainable society following the King’s Sufficiency Economy philosophy” (Ministry of Public Health, 2018).