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While it's easy to get caught up in exotic pathogens and novel transmission routes, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is re-emphasizing that standard precautions remains the bedrock of infection prevention in health care settings.
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The Joint Commission has proposed standards revisions that could weaken infection control programs "significantly at a time when health care associated infections (HAIs) are receiving increasing attention by legislators, payers, and consumers," the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) warns.
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Amid the swirl of airborne threats such as pandemic flu and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB), the prevailing political winds finally have shifted as well.
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It's time for a new mask. Neither surgical masks nor industrial respirators were ever designed to prevent airborne occupational infections in health care workers, though that is the role they have haphazardly evolved to fill, laments Michael Bell, MD, medical epidemiologist in the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's division of healthcare quality promotion.
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The Joint Commission's new standard requiring hospitals to offer influenza vaccine to health care workers is showing some signs of initial impact, but the first real test will be the 2007-2008 flu season.
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The Joint Commission has added a new patient safety goal for 2008 that allows hospitals to comply with hand hygiene guidelines by the World Health Organization.
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For its 2008 National Patient Safety Goals, The Joint Commission has prescribed a one-year phase-in period with defined milestones for compliance at three, six, and nine months.
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A health management plan for members with chronic conditions has generated a 1.7-to-1 return on investment and glowing responses to member satisfaction surveys for Health Alliance Plan (HAP).
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Although there are signs of improvement in some conditions, differences in the quality of health care provided to men and women continue to persist, according to the latest News and Numbers from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHQ).
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Just three new National Patient Safety Goals (NPSGs) were added by The Joint Commission this year, but the requirements both new and old pose some challenges for organizations and quality professionals.
