Joint Commission to Increase Hand Hygiene Focus
Accreditation Insider, December 26, 2017
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Accreditation Insider!
The Joint Commission will soon be scrutinizing hand hygiene more closely.
Starting in 2018, if a surveyor from the accrediting organization witnesses an individual who directly cares for patients fail to perform required hand hygiene, the person’s healthcare organization will receive a citation under The Joint Commission's Infection Prevention and Control (IC) standard IC.02.01.01, element of performance 2, which requires organizations to use precautions such as hand hygiene to reduce infection risk. In addition, healthcare facilities must meet National Patient Safety Goal (NPSG) 07.01.01, which requires them to implement and maintain a hand hygiene program.
The change, announced Thursday, will go into effect on January 1, 2018.
Previously, healthcare organizations were not penalized for an individual failure to perform proper hand hygiene if that organization had an otherwise compliant hand hygiene program. But under this change, if a surveyor spots an individual who does not properly wash his or her hands, the surveyor will cite the organization for a deficiency resulting in a Requirement for Improvement.
In 2004, TJC first required all healthcare organizations to implement hand hygiene programs and keep track of individual performance within that plan. Proper hand hygiene, of course, is critical for preventing infections in a healthcare setting.
Want to receive articles like this one in your inbox? Subscribe to Accreditation Insider!
Related Products
Most Popular
- Articles
-
- Math can be tricky: TJC corrects ABHR storage requirement
- Air control equals infection control
- Don't forget the three checks in medication administration
- Note similarities and differences between HCPCS, CPT® codes
- Residency coordinators’ responsibilities
- The consequences of an incomplete medical record
- Practice the six rights of medication administration
- OB services: Coding inside and outside of the package
- Study: Shorter shifts reduces residents’ attentional failures
- RPA Subscriber Exclusive: February issue of Residency Program Alert now available
- E-mailed
-
- OSHA HazCom updates include labeling, SDS requirements
- Air control equals infection control
- Q&A: Coding from pathology/radiology reports
- Q&A: Are colleges sending students to our facility for rotations business associates?
- Nursing's growing role
- Note similarities and differences between HCPCS, CPT® codes
- Note from the instructor: CMS clarifies billing guidelines on proper billing for drugs in a single-dose or single-use vial, including billing for discarded drugs
- Fracture coding in ICD-10-CM requires greater specificity
- Five ways to safeguard your patients' valuables
- Differentiate between types of wound debridement
- Searched