Over the next couple of months, several Joint Commission programs, standards, and updates will go into effect. Here is a brief overview of some of the bigger changes and the months they’ll go into effect.
Despite the efforts of CMS and the Department of Health and Human Services, the rate of catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) is on the rise. Between 2009 and 2013, infections linked to catheters increased by 6%, which has spurred The Joint Commission to create a new National...
Hospitals must implement additional measures to scope reprocessing procedures amid ongoing safety concern regarding instrumentation, according to patient safety experts. Anything less is unacceptable.
In April, a Pennsylvania patient was being treated for a urinary tract infection when her physicians discovered she had a strain of colistin-resistant E. coli. The discovery means an antibacterial-resistance exists for every type of antibiotic, creating the risk of an infection invulnerable to...
While the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is still investigating four deaths caused by mold infections at UPMC, its “Notes from the Field” report says the room’s air pressure may have had a role in their deaths.
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced last week that it was cancelling the recall of 2,800 Custom Ultrasonics automated endoscope reprocessors (AER.) Custom Ultrasonics was one of the corporations embroiled in the duodenoscope scandal last year, after contaminated scopes caused scores...
Reusable medical devices carry a special risk of infection if they aren't properly reprocessed and sterilized. This fact was clarified in recent months when scores of infection outbreaks and dozens of deaths were linked to defective endoscopes. Many of these outbreaks involved...
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is attempting to develop better methods of measuring and reporting data on catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) and central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) rates.
