Joint Commission releases document on hand hygiene adherence
I’m sure many of you have had trouble not only getting staff members to comply with your facility’s hand hygiene rules, but also measuring their compliance, which can be just as tricky. Do you measure by observing secretly, by surveying staff members, or by product use? Guidance has finally come in the form of a 232-page document released by The Joint Commission yesterday. The monograph offers a more standardized framework to measuring hand hygiene compliance and offers guidance on when, why and how to measure how well staff members are adhering to proper hand hygiene protocol.
The document includes examples of measurement methods, and came to fruition after a two-year collaboration with a number of organizations, including the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC), the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the World Health Organization (WHO), the Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI), and the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases (NFID).
About the Author: Heather Comak is a Managing Editor at HCPro, Inc., where she is the editor of the monthly publication Briefings on Patient Safety, as well as patient safety-related books and audio conferences. She is also is the Assistant Director of the Association for Healthcare Accreditation Professionals.
Contact Heather by e-mailing hcomak@hcpro.com