-
It is important to investigate the reasons for nonadherence to hand hygiene guidelines before deciding on one or more improvement strategies, according to a new report by The Joint Commission and its partners. It also is useful to examine the organizational context of health care delivery, which may facilitate or inhibit adherence. Such organizational factors include:
-
Warning that continuing transmission and more severe disease are likely, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has issued infection control guidelines for hospitals admitting patients with an emerging swine flu strain.
-
Recent outbreaks of hepatitis C are a wake-up call to boost infection control practices, particularly in outpatient settings. But they also underscore the prevalence of HCV and the continued occupational risk to health care workers.
-
New guidelines promote the use of ultraviolet light in hospitals as an effective way to reduce the risk of tuberculosis transmission from the undiagnosed case.
-
Workers' compensation claims were painfully high when Bonnie Johnson took over as director of employee health at Citrus Valley Health Partners in West Covina, CA, a system of three acute-care hospitals, a hospice facility, and about 3,200 employees that is 25 miles east of Los Angeles.
-
How protective is the respirator that you provide your employees?
-
The Joint Commission has issued a major new document on the difficult issue of assessing hand hygiene compliance by health care workers. We'll put the bottom line at the top: there are many approaches to solve the Achilles "hand" of infection prevention and none of them is a panacea.
-
When new staff join the case management team at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, they are trained by a team leader who works with them side by side and mentors them as they begin their new duties.
-
In addition to providing case management and disease management programs to help members manage their chronic conditions, CIGNA Health Care has developed a Lifestyle Management Program that helps people at risk for a chronic disease avoid developing the condition.
-
A risk manager at your company asks you to report what an injured employee on workers' compensation tells you about their physical activities, because this employee is suspected of malingering. What will your answer be?
