How to Know If You are Working With the Right Medical Fabric Supplier

When it comes to medical fabric, quality is something you can’t afford to cut corners on (no pun intended). So when choosing a medical fabric supplier, it’s important to find a provider that meets certain criteria. That’s why it’s also key to establish this criteria well in advance in order to ensure your provider will not only furnish you with healthcare fabric that you can depend on, but will also provide you with the kind of customer service your organization deserves.

Hospital fabrics are not like other fabrics. Whether you’re shopping for fabrics for use in bedspreads, mattresses or medical curtains, you need fabric that meets certain specified criteria. Among other things, medical fabric must be comfortable, safe and effective for use in healthcare facilities. Hospital fabric must also be strong, durable, antimicrobial, and antistatic, as well as resistant to flame, stains, odors and fluids.

But while these criteria are well known to anyone in the industry, what exactly are the criteria you should consider when choosing a medical fabric supplier? Here are a few key qualifications to keep in mind when shopping for a provider.

Ability to Request Customized Solutions

While all healthcare fabric must meet certain criteria, it’s common for specific projects to demand fabric with special features or attributes. This can be problematic if you’re working with a provider who takes a “one size fits all” approach to healthcare fabric. That’s why it’s important to work with a provider who is willing and able to customize products based on your specific needs.

Customer Service Quality of the Medical Fabric Supplier

It’s a common misconception among those unfamiliar with the industry that all healthcare fabrics are basically the same. Likewise, it’s also a common misconception that all medical fabric providers are created equally. One key factor that sets good medical fabric suppliers apart from the rest is customer service.

Good customer service means being able to accommodate customers both online and off, often across borders, and at times, beyond traditional 9 to 5 working hours. Good customer service demands exemplary communication, in-depth knowledge of the medical fabric industry, and a comprehensive understanding of the needs of medical fabric customers.

Most importantly, you want to be sure your provider’s customer service department takes a “problem-solving attitude.” This means being resourceful, creative, and able to think outside of the box when it comes to providing exemplary customer service solutions.

Medical Fabric Supplier’s Quality Assurance Program

The purpose of a quality assurance program is to ensure that an organization is adhering to proper standards while continuously and systematically evaluating the adequacy and appropriateness of the goods and services it provides.

Developing a good quality assurance program typically involves creating standards and criteria based on federal and state regulations and contractual obligations. From there, it’s a matter of creating and implementing policies designed to uphold those criteria.

A good quality assurance program that’s properly deployed should help ensure your provider’s products are of the utmost quality and that you as the customer, will be satisfied with the goods and services provided by that company.

In Conclusion

You have many choices when it comes to choosing a medical fabric supplier. While it may be tempting to simply choose a provider based solely on convenience or to go with an offshore provider simply because it’s cheaper, it’s also a good idea to remember the old adage “you get what you pay for.”

By keeping these criteria in mind when shopping for a provider, you can better ensure that you are working with a medical fabric supplier who will meet and even exceed your expectations.

Learn why Herculite has been the top choice of so many healthcare customers for over 50 years by downloading our eBook "Why Herculite is Uniquely Qualified to Deliver Quality Medical Fabrics”.