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Cleaning patient's rooms may not seem like the most important job in the hospital. But environmental service workers save lives in their own way by preventing the spread of infections. A new spotlight on their role may boost the resources, communication and training focused on this group of workers.
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An unannounced inspector from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) walks into the hospital and summons the infection preventionist. Looking down at a clipboard, he asks: "What were the last two hospital acquired infections that were serious preventable adverse events in the hospital, [meaning they caused] patient harm or death following development of the infection? What was done about each?"
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In the latest in a remarkable surge of infection prevention initiatives, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) is partnering with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to prevent healthcare associated infections in dialysis facilities.
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Growing anti-regulatory pressure in a down economy to say nothing of presidential politics as an election year looms are making it exceeding difficult for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to advance its controversial proposed infectious disease standard to protect health care workers.
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Your move to an electronic health record (EHR) system will save you time and money while increasing your ... infection rates? How could this happen?
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Your annual training in the use of personal protective equipment may not be good enough. According to a study of PPE use during the H1N1 pandemic in Canada, most health care workers don't know how to choose the right items or how to put them on or take them off correctly.
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The Joint Commission recently posted the following answer to a frequently asked question on screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
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Key program elements of a patient isolation program at the University of Chicago Medical Center include the following:
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Emerging multidrug resistant gram negative bacteria continue to spread across the health care continuum, becoming entrenched in non-acute and long term care settings and threatening vulnerable hospital patients with untreatable infections.
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Doing the right thing doesn't guarantee that everyone is going to be pleased, says Frederick S. Southwick, MD, professor of medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases and quality projects manager for the senior vice president for health affairs at the University of Florida Shands Health in Gainesville.
