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Joint Commission to Increase Hand Hygiene Focus

Hospital Safety Insider, December 21, 2017

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The Joint Commission (TJC) 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 TJC’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.

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