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Should health care workers wear respirators when caring for patients with novel H1N1? In mid-June, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention was considering a shift from airborne precautions to droplet precautions, which would mean that health care workers would wear surgical masks when caring for patients. Respirators would still be recommended for aerosol-generating procedures.
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Amid the backdrop of a worldwide influenza pandemic, hospitals received a new model for protecting health care workers from airborne diseases: Landmark regulation from California that provides a comprehensive approach to the hazards of airborne infectious diseases.
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Health care workers contracted the novel H1N1 influenza A pandemic virus from undiagnosed patients with respiratory symptoms and from fellow employees who came to work sick. But even when they knew they were caring for patients with novel H1N1, many health care workers did not use all of the personal protective equipment [PPE] that is recommended.
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"Nobody really looks at the operating room when they're talking about ED overcrowding. But that elective schedule is what drives the peaks and valleys on the inpatient side," says Susan Madden, MS, Press Ganey's VP for analytics.
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Do you understand the new Joint Commission scoring methodology? According to Susan Mellott, PhD, RN, CPHQ, FNAHQ, CEO/health care consultant, Mellott & Associates in Houston, the changes and their impact are still unclear to many quality professionals, and there is a lot of information still to be gleaned to prepare your facility.
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In the photograph, a young boy in a hospital bed looks unflinchingly at you, one hand on his chest. And in big type it reads, "You could kill me with your bare hands." Novant Health's message to its staff in 2005 was clear. Hand hygiene compliance is a matter of life and death.
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If clean hands can save lives, why aren't more health care workers complying with hand hygiene guidelines? The answer isn't singular in nature and neither are the methods suggested for improvement, but one thing is certain: Compliance is lacking. In response, The Joint Commission recently published a 262-page monograph, "Measuring hand hygiene adherence: Overcoming the challenges," to identify best practices for measuring adherence.
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The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) just added new information to its Hospital Compare site death rates and readmission rates relating to heart attack, heart failure, and pneumonia.
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In issuing its 2009 safe practices, the National Quality Forum (NFQ) recommends more pharmacist involvement. Safe Practice 18: Pharmacist Leadership Structures and Systems reads: Pharmacy leaders should have an active role on the administrative leadership team that reflects their authority and accountability for medication management systems performance across the organization.
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Manoj Jain, MD MPH, an infectious disease physician and writer, in Memphis, TN, admits he was skeptical when his hospital embarked on a quality improvement initiative to reduce hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) and he admitted it openly in a column in the Washington Post.
