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HEALTHCARE TRAINING WEEKLY
Friday, January 24, 2003
Volume 2, Number 4

Healthcare Training Weekly, January 28, 2003

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IN THIS ISSUE
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1. Advisory: training helps reduce infections
2. NC probes nursing home death
3. Sample patient safety plan
4. Pay-per-view article: 'Expert advice on medical device reporting'

1. ADVISORY: TRAINING HELPS REDUCE INFECTIONS

Revamped training can help reduce infection rates in hospitals, according to some caregivers who have reported passing serious infections on to their patients. The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) this week released its latest sentinel event alert, which lists the steps taken to cut infection rates in hospitals that have reported infection-related sentinel events. Among other steps, the organizations attributed their success in performance to the following two actions:

-- Revising orientation and training processes and competency assessments
-- Conducting in-service and team trainings

Read the entire JCAHO alert at http://www.jcaho.org/about+us/news+letters/sentinel+event+alert/sea_28.htm

2. NC PROBES NURSING HOME DEATH

After a resident at a Chapel Hill, NC, nursing home was found dead from strangulation late last month, state investigators found that several staff members at the facility didn't know the facility's protocol for reporting accidents. Nurses at the Britthaven-Chapel Hill nursing home waited 15 minutes to perform CPR on resident Lois Edwards after finding her with her neck caught between the mattress and side rails of her bed. Three of Britthaven's five staff nurses didn't know the color-code system for announcing cardiac arrests, and two of six nursing assistants had not met the facility's minimum training requirements of 12 hours in a 12-month period, the Charlotte News & Observer reported late last week.

3. SAMPLE PATIENT SAFETY PLAN

Editor's note: The following excerpt of one hospital's patient-safety plan comes from the HCPro special report, "JCAHO changes for 2003 and beyond."

Associate education:
All associates receive patient-safety education and can explain the organization's safety practices related to their area of practice. The hospital addresses associates' patient-safety educational needs via multiple mechanisms.

Throughout their tenure, associates participate in continuing education on patient safety. The hospital incorporates patient safety into the following programs:

--New associate orientation
--Annual safety training for all associates
--Annual competency validation of skills (as determined by department) for high-risk, high-frequency, or problem-prone processes or procedures

To order "JCAHO changes for 2003 and beyond," or for more information, call our Customer Service department at 800/650-6787, or go to http://www.hcmarketplace.com/Prod.cfm?id=1456&s=EHTW.
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4. PAY-PER-VIEW ARTICLE
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SAFETY

'Expert advice on medical device reporting'

Train staff
Although medical device reporting regulations don't require staff training about reporting obligations, it's always a good idea to educate your employees because everyone needs to know their responsibilities, says Marvin Shepherd, a safety engineer and medical device safety consultant out of Walnut Creek, CA.

At a minimum, write up a single-page document describing staff responsibilities for reporting and who to report to.

TIP: Hold a quick inservice if you're too busy to remind staff of this legal requirement. Have staff read and sign the single-page document on staff responsibility.

To read the full story, go to http://www.hcpro.com/onlinepubs/article.cfm?article=25630
The cost is $10. Subscribers to the online version of Briefings on Ambulatory Accreditation (BOAA) have free access to this article. Subscribers to the print newsletter version of BOAA can find this article in their January issues.

For the cost of just three stories, you can get the entire January issue of BOAA! You'll find stories on disposing patient records and guidance. Go to http://www.hcpro.com/onlinepubs/article.cfm?article=25631 to choose between the PDF and HTML version for just $30. BOAA online subscribers have free access to this issue, and print newsletter subscribers can find this issue in their mailboxes.
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