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April 2009
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Free “Safe Practices” Webinar on April 23
The Texas Medical Institute of Technology (TMIT) and the National Quality Forum (NQF) will host a free Webinar on Thursday, April 23, 1–2:30 pm EST, to provide an update on NQF’s Safe Practices for Better Healthcare. Speakers will include leaders of NQF and the cochairs of its safe practices steering committee. They include Helen Burstin, MD MPH, senior vice president for performance measures at NQF; Mary Foley, PhD MS RN, associate director at the Center for Nursing Research and Innovation, University of California–San Francisco School of Nursing; Peter Angood, MD, NQF’s new senior advisor on patient safety; Gregg Meyer, MD MSc, of Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, MA; and Charles Denham, MD, president of TMIT. To register, click here. For more information, contact Liz Moreno at liz_moreno@tmit1.org or call 512/457-7676.
Save Lives: Clean Your Hands
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Join the 1,985 hospitals and healthcare facilities from 95 countries that are currently registered to take part in a global initiative on May 5 to raise awareness of hand hygiene and reduce hospital-acquired infection (HAI). Participation in Save Lives: Clean Your Hands, sponsored by the World Health Organization (WHO), allows your organization to |
- be part of a global movement to improve hand hygiene
- join the network of countries that have already initiated hand-hygiene campaigns
- help fight HAI in your country
- use the WHO tool kit to improve hand-hygiene compliance
- make patient safety your number-1 priority.
Good hand hygiene is one of the easiest ways to reduce HAI in your hospital. Healthcare facilities that register will have access to a suite of tools to improve hand-hygiene compliance and a support network for encouraging new hand-hygiene initiatives. Click here to register your interest and take part in the activities on May 5.
AHA Urges Congress to “Invest in Quality”
Testifying for the American Hospital Association (AHA) at a House hearing on healthcare-associated infections, Bob Hyzy, MD, steering committee chair for the Michigan Health and Hospital Association’s Keystone Intensive Care Unit project, described the success of the project and urged Congress to continue its investment in hospital quality initiatives. Leaders of the Keystone project estimate that Michigan hospitals have saved nearly 1,500 lives and $175 million per year by voluntarily participating in the evidence-based program to reduce catheter-associated bloodstream infections, Hyzy told the House Committee on Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services and Education.
“Hospitals are hungry for the kind of change that initiatives like the Keystone project can bring, and the AHA is taking the lead in helping to meet that demand,” he testified. Hyzy described how the AHA’s Health Research and Educational Trust affiliate is using $3 million in funding from the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) to implement its “On the CUSP” program in ten states, with the goal of reducing central-line infections at participating hospitals by 80%. “Funding from AHRQ has been, and continues to be, a vital lifeline to hospitals’ ability to improve infection rates through these programs,” he stated. Hyzy added that AHA supports voluntary reporting of infection rates through the Hospital Quality Alliance (HQA), to which more than 4,900 hospitals report quality information, and urged Congress not to “add a layer of reporting that we do not need. … [HQA] is a proven system; it works.” (AHA News Now)
JCR to Host Conference on Hospital-Acquired Conditions May 5–6
New Medicare financial incentives have many hospitals scrambling to find solutions to such common problems as surgical site infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, pressure ulcers, and falls. “Hospital-Acquired Conditions: Solutions to Achieving Clinical and Financial Success” is designed to help healthcare organizations balance quality-of-care issues with the payment implications of these new federal rules. The May 5–6 conference in Oakbrook Terrace, IL, is presented by Joint Commission Resources (JCR), a not-for-profit affiliate of the Joint Commission.
The conference will feature methods to analyze baseline financial and clinical risks and to identify metrics to monitor improvement strategies. The program will also include ideas for engaging physicians in organizational risk-reduction strategies, as well as presentations from organizations that have successfully reduced infection rates, pressure ulcer prevalence, and other hospital-acquired injuries. The cost of the conference is $795. To register, call 877/223-6866. Additional details and a conference agenda are available at www.jcrinc.com/Conferences-and-Seminars.
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