Infection Control Guidelines Issued
from The New York Times
 Hoping to improve infection control in hospitals, the nation’s top epidemiological societies joined with the American Hospital Association and the Joint Commission, which accredits hospitals, to issue a compendium of guidelines for preventing six lethal conditions. The unified backing of the hospital association and the accrediting agency should give the recommendations some teeth. The Joint Commission’s vice president, Dr. Robert A. Wise, said his agency would spend the next year studying which guidelines it would add to its accrediting standards in 2010.
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Standardized Wristband System Endorsed by AHA
from The Press-Enterprise
California is among several states nationwide in favor of a national system that would help hospital workers identify patients with special medical conditions or requests. Last month, the American Hospital Association, a Washington D.C.-based lobbying group, endorsed a system to standardize the color of wristbands used to designate patients who have allergies, are at risk of falling or do not want to be resuscitated. Such national standardization could prevent mistakes and improve patient care, especially for doctors More
Surgeons Make the Operating Room Environmentally Sensitive
from Newswise
The last thing on a surgeon’s mind when he or she enters the operating room is environmental waste or energy inefficiency. As always, the main concern is the safety and care of the patient. However, surgeons at Oregon Health and Science University (OHSU) are finding that they can protect the environment as well as the patient by recycling solid waste and conserving energy use in the operating room. More
New APIC Position on Influenza Immunization of Healthcare Personnel
from APIC
PIC recommends that hospitals, long term care, and other facilities that employ healthcare personnel, implement a comprehensive strategy which incorporates all of the recommendations for influenza vaccination of HCP of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) . As part of a comprehensive strategy, we recommend that influenza vaccine be required annually for all healthcare personnel with direct patient care.
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Hospital Executives Report Poor Patient Flow, Cites Healthcare IT as Solution
from Healthcare IT News
According to a new survey, 89 percent of hospital executives are reporting poor patient flow at their facilities, and are concerned about how to improve productivity to meet patient demand in the future. The survey also found most respondents think healthcare IT is the best way to improve patient flow. More
Nurses Confer to Fight Hazardous Exposures
from News at UMB
Policies and practices are finally changing to better protect hospital nurses from exposure to hazardous chemicals, said leading experts to the more than 80 nurses and nursing students of 15 hospitals attending the 'Nurse Greening Their Hospitals' conference at the University of Maryland School of Nursing. The conference came on the heels of a groundbreaking, nationwide survey of 1,550 hospital nurses, which revealed that nurses with long-term and intense exposures to environmental hazards developed above-normal levels of cancer and asthma, had more miscarriages, children with birth defects, and other serious medical conditions. More
Hospital Room of the Future Smarter
from Desert News
The hospital room of the future is more interactive, integrated and efficient. To ensure efficiency, all staff members in the room of the future will wear a badge that will have information about their job code, solutions consultant Gayle Romack said. The badge is scanned when a staffer enters a patient's room. Information is sent to the patient via computer screen about who just entered. If a doctor enters the room, the patient's records are automatically shown on the screen. The doctor can update the patient's information immediately, including adding orders. A nurse entering can check a patient's medicine history and needs. If someone from housekeeping enters the room, the monitor would display only information pertinent to that job, such as whether the patient wears dentures or eyeglasses.
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Two New Jersey Hospitals Get New Accreditations
from The New Jersey Journal
Jersey City Medical Center and Meadowlands Hospital Medical Center in Secaucus, N.J., have been awarded reaccreditation by the Joint Commission, the nation's predominant standards-setting and accrediting body in health care, officials said.
Accreditation signifies the hospitals have achieved the organization's high standards for quality, safety of care, treatment and services.
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