CMS sounding alarm: unsafe needle practices
Specific references made to ASCs and hospitals
As outbreaks continue to be reported due to unsafe injection practices and improper use of medication vials, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) is telling its surveyors to contact public health departments immediately if they see such flagrant breaches of infection control.1
A recent memo from CMS states that if state survey agencies (SAs) or accrediting organizations (AOs) witness the following practices, it’s time to cite and sound the alarm by calling in public health authorities:
• using the same needle for more than one individual;
• using the same (pre-filled/manufactured/insulin or any other) syringe, pen, or injection device for more than one individual;
• re-using a needle or syringe that already has been used to administer medication to an individual to subsequently enter a medication container (e.g., vial, bag), and then using contents from that medication container for another individual;
• using the same lancing/fingerstick device for more than one individual, even if the lancet is changed. (For new videos on this topic, see story, p. 92.)
The memo targets ambulatory surgery centers (ASCs), hospitals, hospice, skilled nursing facilities and home health agencies. For ASCs, CMS says: "The ASC must maintain an infection control program that seeks to minimize infections and communicable diseases. The ASC must maintain an ongoing program designed to prevent, control, and investigate infections and communicable diseases. In addition, the infection control and prevention program must include documentation that the ASC has considered, selected, and implemented nationally recognized infection control guidelines ."
The wording is similar for hospitals. CMS says, "The hospital must provide a sanitary environment to avoid sources and transmission of infections and communicable diseases. There must be an active program for the prevention, control, and investigation of infections and communicable diseases."
The guidelines are effective May 30, 2014.
- Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. Infection Control Breaches Which Warrant Referral to Public Health Authorities. May 30, 2014. Web: http://go.cms.gov/1vlKKKw.
