Every so often, the topic of steam sterilization comes up when discussing infection control issues. I recently came across a fantastic article in the Journal of the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) discussing this very topic. The author, Paula Nania, MSN, RN, CNOR,...
How would you prove that you communicate important quality and patient safety information to the members of the medical staff as well as to appropriate hospital staff?
All hospitals must evaluate whether or not they are willing and able to accept a large influx of infected patients. If a hospital decides it is willing and capable of accepting such patients, what does the hospital need to do?
Imagine a patient is admitted to your hospital from a trauma unit. A history is taken, multiple staff members evaluate her, and she is brought up to the inpatient unit. There, staff are hands on, helping her to walk to the bathroom and focusing on getting her better. She...
Patient falls are often associated with elderly patients, but as one hospital experienced firsthand, postpartum women recovering in the obstetrics room can also be at risk.
Like Franklin Woods Community Hospital (see p. 7), Sycamore Shoals Hospital (SSH) in Elizabethton, Tenn., a Mountain States Health Alliance hospital, is a participant in the QUEST collaborative. And like its sister hospital, SSH has achieved impressive results. Specifically, it...
A podcast from The Joint Commission on key learnings from the SSI Change Project and The Joint Commission Implementation Guide for NPSG 07.05.01 is available on The Joint Commission Website. Click the link above for more information.
If a member of the voluntary medical staff is exposed to a communicable disease while caring for a patient at your facility, do you have any responsibility and what is it?
Loyola University Medical Center endured its share of objections from healthcare workers who did not want to be vaccinated against influenza. But it has found a way to convince nearly everyone on staff to get the flu shot.
Hospitals should continue to conduct routine risk assessments to determine how well their infection control strategies are working before rushing to adopt a highly touted and possibly costly new protocol, says a member of the Board of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control...
