Can technology boost hand hygiene compliance?
Janet Haas, PhD, RN, CIC, FSHEA, FAPIC, hopes technology will one day achieve what no other strategy has thus far: Increase the rate of hand hygiene compliance. Haas, president of the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, says it will need to be a small device that does…
Cataract surgery linked to reduced traffic crashes
Editor's Note In this study, cataract surgery was associated with a patient’s reduced subsequent risk of being in a serious traffic crash as a driver. This analysis of 559,546 patients who had cataract surgery in at least one eye found that the crash rate decreased from 2.36 to 2.14 per…
Joint Commission: OSHA requires Form 300A data to be submitted electronically
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on June 27 announced that the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) now requires employers (including many healthcare organizations) to report Form 300A data electronically because it no longer accepts paper submissions. Form 300A is a summary of serious work-related injuries and illnesses that occur…
Managing patient and family disruption in the perioperative setting--Part 2
Disruption in the healthcare setting occurs all too often and can be dangerous for patients and staff like. Part 1 of this series discussed some of the reasons behind the volatile behavior of patients or their families and provided a list of organizations with resources for managing the problem (OR…
Joint Commission implementing survey improvements on assessing safety culture
Editor's Note The Joint Commission on June 13 announced that starting this month it will be implementing survey process improvements for how it assesses safety culture in hospitals and critical access hospitals. Improvements will be implemented for all other programs by October. Among the process improvement expectations: An organization will…
CDC issues hepatitis A alert
Editor's Note The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on June 11 issued a Health Advisory on investigations of hepatitis A outbreaks in multiple states in people reporting drug use and/or homelessness and their contacts. From January 2017 to April 2018, the CDC has received more than 2,500 reports…
FDA updates recommendations to reduce surgical fires
Editor's Note The Food & Drug Administration (FDA) on June 5 updated its Safety Communication: “Recommendations to Reduce Surgical Fires and Related Patient Injury.” Among the recommendations: Perform a fire risk assessment before each surgical procedure. Encourage communication among anesthesia personnel, surgeons, and OR staff. Practice safe use and administration…
AHRQ: Decline in HACs saves 8,000 lives, $2.9 billion
Editor's Note National efforts by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to reduce hospital-acquired conditions (HACs) helped prevent some 8,000 deaths and save $2.9 billion in costs between 2014 and 2016, according to a new report released June 5 by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ). Data…
June 8 is Hospitals Against Violence National Day of Awareness
Editor's Note On June 8, the American Hospital Association (AHA) is hosting its second annual Hospitals Against Violence National Day of Awareness, termed “#HAVhope Friday.” The day has been set aside to focus attention on how hospitals, health systems, and their caregivers work daily to end all forms of violence…
ECRI Institute announces new consultative service to prevent surgical fires
Editor's Note ECRI Institute on June 5 announced a new consultative service focused on helping healthcare organizations prevent surgical fires by uncovering hidden vulnerabilities. There have been guidelines published by ECRI Institute and others to prevent and extinguish fires for many years, but implementation of the guidelines is the challenge,…
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