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JCAHO to focus on infection control

Hospital Safety Connection, January 9, 2003

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Infection control (IC) will be a big focus for 2003 and beyond, starting with the next Sentinel Event Alert on nosocomial infection death, JCAHO surveyors learned during the annual surveyor training in Chicago this week.

The JCAHO asked surveyors to really probe nosocomial infection rates, says a source close to the JCAHO. Organizations must look at evidence-based practices to improve on IC. So get ready to network and research proven best practices and to show surveyors how adopting them has helped prevent nosocomial infections. For example, the JCAHO expects hospitals to adopt the new Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines for hand hygiene. Also expect all surveyors, not only the nurse surveyor, to quiz you on IC, the observer says.

The JCAHO is working on a new definition for rape, one of the sentinel events you must conduct a root-cause analysis (RCA) for and report to the JCAHO. The JCAHO will soon require that you perform RCA's for "death of recognized complications," the observer says.

The JCAHO also plans to announce that the unanticipated death of an infant is part of the definition of a "reportable sentinel event" and thus subject to an RCA.

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