Scrubbing (frictional cleaning) is the best way to physically remove dirt, debris and microorganisms. Cleaning is required prior to any disinfection process because dirt, debris and other materials can decrease the effectiveness of many chemical disinfectants. Cleaning products should be selected on the basis of their use, efficacy, safety and cost. Cleaning should always progress…
I find more hospitals with blogs every week. One that I enjoy reading is https://runningahospital.blogspot.com/, started by Paul Levy, President and CEO of Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston. I have also found many hospitals on twitter. One example is https://www.twitter.com/sierra-view, a great hospital I worked with, and another is https://twitter.com/mayoclinic, the Mayo Clinic….
Ratings of every nonfederal hospital in the country on www.healthgrades.com GOLDEN, Colo. (October 13, 2009) – The largest annual study of patient outcomes at each of the nation’s 5,000 nonfederal hospitals found a wide gap in quality between the nation’s best hospitals and all others. According to the study, issued today by HealthGrades, the…
Three Skills That Improve Conversation By Brian Tracy One key to becoming a great conversationalist is to pause before replying. A short pause, of three to five seconds, is a very classy thing to do in a conversation. When you pause, you accomplish three goals simultaneously. The Benefits of Pausing First, you avoid running the…
A little late, here are some suggested training topics for October: Customer satisfaction surveys; HCAHPS, Press Ganey, Picker or your favorite. Don’t forget to add internal surveys and patient rounding results. Department team building. Always very important. Hazardous waste; transportation, handling and storage.
We are living in a bacterial world. For decades now we have been waging chemical warfare against the bacteria and viruses that are in our environment. We have been lobbing hand grenades at them in the form of disinfectants, antibiotics and antiseptic soaps. The bacteria have been throwing hand grenades back at us in the…
Questions often asked at facilities are” “Is this a waste?” and “Is the waste a hazardous waste?” The answer depends on the issue of point of generation (POG). A material becomes a waste when the owner or operator decides that it cannot be used for its original intended purpose. A good example would be a can…
According to Mitchell Schwaber, MD, from the National Center for Infection Control of the Israel Ministry of Health, bacterial infection threats are not getting the attention they deserve given that the World Health Organization and public health agencies continue to focus on the spread of the H1N1 influenza virus. While methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) has…
Are “White Boards”, erasable patient information boards allowed in HIPAA? White boards, erasable patient information boards, are a means of communicating certain information about patients to the healthcare providers who care for them. One use is a board that has patient safety-related information about an individual patient. This information might include fall precautions, transfer status,…
Senator Jim DeMint states the following on his web site – In many ways, our health care system is broken. Even people satisfied with their own care are nervous about losing it, concerned about rising costs, and frustrated by the failure of government to bring about genuine reform. But the reason Congress has so far…