Advancing Health Equity in Patient Safety: a Reckoning, Challenge and Opportunity

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Advancing Health Equity in Patient Safety: a Reckoning, Challenge and Opportunity BMJ Qual Saf: first published as 10.1136/bmjqs-2020-012599 on 29 December 2020. Downloaded from EDITORIAL Advancing health equity in patient safety: a reckoning, challenge and opportunity Marshall H Chin Section of General Internal COVID-19 and police brutality have emphasising interventions and solutions. Medicine, University of Chicago, simultaneously heightened public aware- The patient safety field should move Chicago, Illinois, USA ness of disparities in health outcomes faster, incorporating major advances that Correspondence to by race/ethnicity, gender, and socioeco- have occurred regarding how to reduce 8 9 Dr Marshall H Chin, Section nomic status, and the underlying struc- health disparities. While equity issues of General Internal Medicine, tural drivers of systemic racism and social in patient safety have been understudied, University of Chicago, Chicago, 1 2 the principles for successfully advancing IL 60637, USA; privilege in the USA. Increasingly major mchin@ medicine. bsd. uchicago. professional associations such as the health equity align well with the culture edu American Medical Association, Amer- and toolkit of the safety field.10 Thus, ican Hospital Association, and Associ- achieving equitable patient safety is a real- Accepted 24 November 2020 ation of American Medical Colleges are istic and important opportunity. decrying racism and inequities, and many My lessons are from the ‘school of hard individual healthcare organisations are knocks’: over 25 years of performing committing to addressing health dispari- multilevel health disparities research and ties. Hospitals, clinics and health plans are interventions locally,11 nationally9 12 13 looking inwards to identify organisational and internationally.14 I have been fortu- biases and discrimination, and developing nate to work with many passionate, inspi- outward interventions to advance health rational staff and leaders from healthcare equity for their patients. Looking in the and the community who have demon- mirror honestly takes courage; frequently strated that advancing health equity is not http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/ the discoveries and self- insights are trou- a mirage—it can be done. bling.3 At their best, discussions about 4 racism and inequities are challenging. A FRAMEWORK FOR ADVANCING Within the quality of care field, dispari- HEALTH EQUITY ties in patient safety are relatively under- The WHO defines health equity as ‘the 5 6 studied. Thus, Schulson et al’s study absence of unfair and avoidable or reme- in this issue of BMJ Quality and Safety, diable differences in health among popu- finding that voluntary incident reporting lation groups defined socially, econom- systems may underdetect safety issues in ically, demographically or geographi- on September 25, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. marginalised populations, is an important cally’.15 To achieve health equity, people sentinel event.7 Implicit bias in providers should receive the care they need, not and structural bias in safety reporting necessarily the exact same care.16 ► http:// dx. doi. org/ 10. 1136/ systems might explain this underdetection I summarise a framework for advancing bmjqs- 2020- 011920 of problems. health equity (figure 1). In brief, indi- In this editorial, I summarise the prac- viduals and organisations must commit tical lessons for advancing health equity to the mission of maximising the health © Author(s) (or their sustainably, with the hope of accelerating of diverse individuals and populations. employer(s)) 2020. No equity in patient safety. I present a frame- Their actions, policies and procedures commercial re- use. See rights work for advancing health equity, describe must intentionally advance health equity. and permissions. Published by BMJ. common pitfalls and apply the frame- This intentional design to advance health work to patient safety to inform research equity consists of two simultaneous To cite: Chin MH. and policy recommendations. The wider tracks: (1) Create a culture of equity in BMJ Qual Saf Epub ahead of print: [please include Day health disparities field has been criticised which the whole organisation—senior Month Year]. doi:10.1136/ for spending too many years describing leadership, mid- level management, front- bmjqs-2020-012599 the phenomenon of inequities before line staff and clinicians—truly values and Chin MH. BMJ Qual Saf 2020;0:1–6. doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2020-012599 1 BMJ Qual Saf: first published as 10.1136/bmjqs-2020-012599 on 29 December 2020. Downloaded from Editorial Figure 1 Framework for Advancing Health Equity.9 18 buys in to the mission of advancing health equity.17 daily jobs with an equity lens and reform the struc- Developing a culture of equity requires an inward tures in which they work, regardless of whether they personal look for biases as well as examination for are working in clinical care, data analytics, quality systematic structures within the organisation that bias improvement, strategic operations, finances, patient against and oppress marginalised groups. (2) Imple- experience, environmental services, health informa- ment the Road Map to Reduce Disparities.9 18 Road tion technology or human resources. Leadership needs map principles are the tenets of good quality improve- to provide front- line staff with the training and support ment, emphasising an equity lens that tailors care to necessary for success. The wider environment requires meet the needs of diverse patients rather than a one- payment reform that supports and incentivises care size- fits- all approach. Key steps of the road map are transformation that advances health equity.20–22 Part- to: identify disparities with stratified clinical perfor- nerships across health and social sectors need to align mance data and input of clinicians, staff and patients; goals and efforts to address the medical and social http://qualitysafety.bmj.com/ do a root cause analysis of the drivers of the dispar- drivers of health, both drivers for individual persons as ities; and design and implement care interventions well as the underlying systematic structural drivers.23 that address the root causes in collaboration with the affected patients and populations. These actions will COMMON PITFALLS ultimately improve individual and population health (1) Not being intentional about advancing health equity. and improve health and healthcare equity. Relying on magical thinking. When I ask healthcare Creating a culture of equity and implementing the leaders what they are doing to advance health equity, concrete actions of the road map are equally important I frequently hear well- meaning statements such as: for change. Management consultant Peter Drucker’s ‘We’re already doing quality improvement.’ ‘We’re a on September 25, 2021 by guest. Protected copyright. famous aphorism that ‘Culture eats strategy for break- safety- net organization that cares for the most vulner- fast’ applies to equity work. Technically sound disparity able persons. It’s who we are.’ ‘The shift from fee-for - interventions and strategies will not be implemented service payment to value- based payment and alterna- or sustained unless equity is an organisational priority tive payment models will fix things.’ Such statements among all workers. Similarly, well- meaning intentions are variants of the ‘rising tide lifts all boats’ philos- will not take an organisation far unless accompanied ophy and the belief that the ‘invisible hand’, whether by concrete actions. The key bridge between a culture it be general free market principles, a general system of equity and road map principles is that every worker of quality improvement and patient safety, or general in the organisation, from the chief executive officer to commitment to serving marginalised populations, will front- line staff, must know how to practically oper- suffice in reducing health disparities. Yet, disparities ationalise advancing health equity in their daily jobs. stubbornly persist in quality of care and outcomes by Successful application of these lessons is in part inter- race, ethnicity and socioeconomic status.24 acting effectively with diverse persons, as classically Culturally tailored care interventions that address taught in cultural humility classes.19 However, oper- the underlying causes of disparities often work better ationalisation goes beyond interpersonal relations to than default one- size- fits- all approaches.25 However, each worker knowing how they should perform their the ‘invisible hand’ incentives in general quality 2 Chin MH. BMJ Qual Saf 2020;0:1–6. doi:10.1136/bmjqs-2020-012599 BMJ Qual Saf: first published as 10.1136/bmjqs-2020-012599 on 29 December 2020. Downloaded from Editorial improvement and pay- for- performance approaches community. One organisation we worked with sought are frequently too weak to drive organisations to tailor advice from Latinx (gender- neutral, non- binary term approaches to advance health equity,13 and can even to indicate of Latin American descent) healthcare be counterproductive. Rather than implement indi- workers to design an intervention to reduce disparities vidualised, tailored care that can improve outcomes in the outcomes of their Latinx patients with depres- for diverse minority populations, some organisations sion, rather than speaking with actual patients. The perceive that it is easier to improve their aggregate organisation designed a telephone intervention that patient outcomes or clinical performance per dollars failed, partly because their patients frequently had spent
Recommended publications
  • Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030 Towards Eliminating Avoidable Harm in Health Care
    GLOBAL PATIENT SAFETY ACTION PLAN 2021–2030 Towards Eliminating Avoidable Harm in Health Care Second Draft November 2020 Table of Contents Overview of the Global Patient Safety Action Plan 2021–2030 ................................................................................................................v Abbreviations ............................................................................................................................................................................................................vii 1. Introduction .........................................................................................................................................................................................................1 Background .................................................................................................................................................................................................1 The emergence of patient safety thinking .....................................................................................................................2 The global burden of unsafe care ......................................................................................................................................2 The evolution of the global patient safety movement ..............................................................................................3 COVID–19: A broader concept of avoidable harm ......................................................................................................6
    [Show full text]
  • A Health Equity Lens on Patient Safety and Quality
    UCSF Center for Vulnerable UCSF School UCSF Department Populations at Zuckerberg of Medicine of Epidemiology San Francisco General and Biostatistics Hospital A Health Equity Lens on Patient Safety and Quality Kirsten Bibbins-Domingo, PhD, MD, MAS Lee Goldman, MD Endowed Chair in Medicine Professor of Epidemiology and Biostatistics and Medicine Vice Dean for Population Health and Health Equity 10/26/2018 Braveman P, Arkin E, Orleans T, Proctor D, and Plough A. What Is Health Equity? And What Difference Does a Definition Make? Princeton, NJ: Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, 2017. Partnering for Health Equity . The fierce urgency of now Can we advance patient safety AND equity at the same time? 4 YES! Deliberate action, Informed choices, Creating a culture of quality and safety for all 5 The inequality paradox 6 Frohlich and Potvin, AJPH 2008 Number and percentage of quality measures for which income groups experienced better, same, or worse quality of care compared with reference group (high income), 2014-2015 7 AHRQ 2016 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report Number and percentage of quality measures with disparity at baseline for which disparities related to income were improving, not changing, or worsening (2000 through 2014-2015) 8 AHRQ 2016 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report Number and percentage of quality measures for which members of selected groups experienced better, same, or worse quality of care compared with reference group (White) in 2014-2015 9 AHRQ 2016 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report Number and percentage of quality measures with disparity at baseline for which disparities related to race and ethnicity were improving, not changing, or worsening (2000 through 2014-2015) 10 AHRQ 2016 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report Number and percentage of quality and access measures for which members of selected groups experienced better, same, or worse quality of care compared with reference group in 2014-2015, by geographic location 11 AHRQ 2016 National Healthcare Quality and Disparities Report 1.
    [Show full text]
  • Improving Quality and Achieving Equity: a Guide for Hospital Leaders
    Institute for Health Policy Improving Quality and Achieving Equity: A Guide for Hospital Leaders 1 2 Improving Quality and Achieving Equity: A Guide for Hospital Leaders Acknowledgements The Disparities Solutions Center would like to extend our sincerest gratitude to The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation for their generous support for the development and design of Improving Quality and Achieving Equity: A Guide for Hospital Leaders, and in particular Pamela Dickson, MBA, formerly our Project Officer, now Deputy Director of the Health Care Group, for her guidance and advice. We would like to extend our special thanks to all of the hospital leaders who agreed to be interviewed for this project, as well as the hospitals who allowed us to conduct a more extended site visit to develop the case studies presented here. We would also like to thank our Sounding Board for this project, which provided input and feedback from conception to design, as well as the reviewers who graciously agreed to share their perspectives and expertise to make this a practical, effective tool for real-world hospital leaders. We are deeply appreciative of Ann McAlearney, ScD, MS, Assistant Professor, Division of Health Services Management and Policy, Ohio State University School of Public Health, and Sunita Mutha, MD, FACP, Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Center for the Health Professions, Division of General Internal Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, who shared key resources and perspectives. Special thanks go to the leadership and administration of the Institute for Health Policy, and in particular the Institute’s Director, Dr. David Blumenthal, Associate Director, Dr.
    [Show full text]
  • Hand Hygiene: Clean Hands for Healthcare Personnel
    Core Concepts for Hand Hygiene: Clean Hands for Healthcare Personnel 1 Presenter Russ Olmsted, MPH, CIC Director, Infection Prevention & Control Trinity Health, Livonia, MI Contributions by Heather M. Gilmartin, NP, PhD, CIC Denver VA Medical Center University of Colorado Laraine Washer, MD University of Michigan Health System 2 Learning Objectives • Outline the importance of effective hand hygiene for protection of healthcare personnel and patients • Describe proper hand hygiene techniques, including when various techniques should be used 3 Why is Hand Hygiene Important? • The microbes that cause healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) can be transmitted on the hands of healthcare personnel • Hand hygiene is one of the MOST important ways to prevent the spread of infection 1 out of every 25 patients has • Too often healthcare personnel do a healthcare-associated not clean their hands infection – In fact, missed opportunities for hand hygiene can be as high as 50% (Chassin MR, Jt Comm J Qual Patient Saf, 2015; Yanke E, Am J Infect Control, 2015; Magill SS, N Engl J Med, 2014) 4 Environmental Surfaces Can Look Clean but… • Bacteria can survive for days on patient care equipment and other surfaces like bed rails, IV pumps, etc. • It is important to use hand hygiene after touching these surfaces and at exit, even if you only touched environmental surfaces Boyce JM, Am J Infect Control, 2002; WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Health Care, WHO, 2009 5 Hands Make Multidrug-Resistant Organisms (MDROs) and Other Microbes Mobile (Image from CDC, Vital Signs: MMWR, 2016) 6 When Should You Clean Your Hands? 1. Before touching a patient 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for Healthcare Organizations 2018
    Executive Brief Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for Healthcare Organizations 2018 years WANT MORE? This executive brief summarizes ECRI Institute’s Top 10 list of patient safety concerns for 2018. Healthcare Risk Control (HRC) and ECRI Institute PSO members can access the full report, which discusses each topic in more detail, by logging in at https://www.ecri.org. Additionally, page 14 of this brief lists ECRI Institute resources that provide more in-depth guidance for each topic. Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for Healthcare Organizations 2018 Healthcare is striving to become an industry ECRI Institute’s Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for 2018 of high-reliability organizations, and part 1 Diagnostic errors of being a high-reliability industry means 2 Opioid safety across the continuum of care staying vigilant and identifying problems proactively. This annual Top 10 list helps 3 Internal care coordination organizations identify looming patient safety 4 Workarounds challenges and offers suggestions and Incorporating health IT into patient safety programs resources for addressing them. 5 Management of behavioral health needs in 6 acute care settings Why We Create This List 7 All-hazards emergency preparedness ECRI Institute creates this annual list of 8 Device cleaning, disinfection, and sterilization Top 10 patient safety concerns to support 9 Patient engagement and health literacy healthcare organizations in their efforts to proactively identify and respond to threats 10 Leadership engagement in patient safety MS130 to patient safety. This report offers perspectives from some of our many experts, as well as links to further guidance on addressing these issues. MARCH 2018 Adapted from: Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns for Healthcare Organizations 2018.
    [Show full text]
  • What Exactly Is Patient Safety?
    What Exactly Is Patient Safety? Linda Emanuel, MD, PhD; Don Berwick, MD, MPP; James Conway, MS; John Combes, MD; Martin Hatlie, JD; Lucian Leape, MD; James Reason, PhD; Paul Schyve, MD; Charles Vincent, MPhil, PhD; Merrilyn Walton, PhD Abstract We articulate an intellectual history and a definition, description, and model of patient safety. We define patient safety as a discipline in the health care professions that applies safety science methods toward the goal of achieving a trustworthy system of health care delivery. We also define patient safety as an attribute of health care systems that minimizes the incidence and impact of adverse events and maximizes recovery from such events. Our description includes: why the field of patient safety exists (the high prevalence of avoidable adverse events); its nature; its essential focus of action (the microsystem); how patient safety works (e.g., high- reliability design, use of safety sciences, methods for causing change, including cultural change); and who its practitioners are (i.e., all health care workers, patients, and advocates). Our simple and overarching model identifies four domains of patient safety (recipients of care, providers, therapeutics, and methods) and the elements that fall within the domains. Eleven of these elements are described in this paper. Introduction A defining realization of the 1990s was that, despite all the known power of modern medicine to cure and ameliorate illness, hospitals were not safe places for healing. Instead, they were places fraught with risk of patient harm. One important response to this realization has been the growth of interest in patient safety. It is increasingly clear that patient safety has become a discipline, complete with an integrated body of knowledge and expertise, and that it has the potential to revolutionize health care, perhaps as radically as molecular biology once dramatically increased the therapeutic power in medicine.
    [Show full text]
  • Leadership Guide to Patient Safety
    Innovation Series 2006 Leadership Guide to Patient Safety 12 We have developed IHI’s Innovation Series white papers to further our mission of improving the quality and value of health care. The ideas and findings in these white papers represent innovative work by organizations affiliated with IHI. Our white papers are designed to share with readers the problems IHI is working to address; the ideas, changes, and methods we are developing and testing to help organizations make breakthrough improvements; and early results where they exist. Copyright © 2006 Institute for Healthcare Improvement All rights reserved. Individuals may photocopy all or parts of white papers for educational, not-for- profit uses. These papers may not be reproduced for commercial, for-profit use in any form, by any means (electronic, mechanical, xerographic, or other) or held in any information storage or retrieval system without the written permission of the Institute for Healthcare Improvement. How to cite this paper: Botwinick L, Bisognano M, Haraden C. Leadership Guide to Patient Safety. IHI Innovation Series white paper. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Institute for Healthcare Improvement; 2006. (Available on www.IHI.org) Acknowledgements: The Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) would like to thank the following individuals for their contributions to the work: Donald M. Berwick, MD, MPP, FRCP, President and CEO, IHI Donald Goldmann, MD, Senior Vice President, IHI Frances A. Griffin, RRT, MPA, Director, IHI Julianne Morath, RN, MS, Chief Operating, Children’s Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota Gail A. Nielsen, BSHCA, Clinical Performance Improvement Education Administrator, Iowa Health System, and IHI George W. Merck Fellow 2004–2005 Thomas Nolan, PhD, Statistician, Associates in Process Improvement, and IHI Senior Fellow James L.
    [Show full text]
  • Pharmacovigilance Monitoring Product Safety to Protect Patients
    ETHICS AND TRANSPARENCY PHARMACOVIGILANCE MONITORING PRODUCT SAFETY TO PROTECT PATIENTS GRI Standards : 103: Management approach 417: Marketing and Labeling EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Monitoring the quality, efficacy and safety of our products throughout their life cycle, from clinical development to prescription and consumption, is a priority to protect patient safety. Some rare or late onset adverse events are often only detected at this time. In order to maximize our knowledge on the use of our portfolio in real-world conditions, Sanofi's Global Pharmacovigilance Department (GPV) has established an effective global organization to passively and actively collect pharmacovigilance data from all sources of information around the world. Thanks to this data collection, the teams monitor safety and are able to adjust the benefit-risk profile of our products: prescription medicines, vaccines, consumer health products, generics, and medical devices. Pharmacovigilance helps determine the best conditions of use for treatments, and provides physicians, healthcare professionals and patients with comprehensive, up-to-date safety information, including potential risks associated with a product. Pharmacovigilance Factsheet 1 Published April 2020 TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. DEFINITION .................................................................................................................. 3 2. THE PURPOSE OF PHARMACOVIGILANCE ............................................................. 3 3. A BEST-IN-CLASS PHARMACOVIGILANCE ORGANIZATION ................................. 3 Pharmacovigilance Factsheet 2 Published April 2020 1. DEFINITION Pharmacovigilance is the process of monitoring the safety and contributing to the continuous assessment of the benefit-risk profile of our products at every stage of their life cycle. 2. THE PURPOSE OF PHARMACOVIGILANCE The diagram below summarizes the purpose of pharmacovigilance in an international pharmaceutical company in line with regulatory requirements : Figure 1 : The purpose of product safety monitoring is threefold 3.
    [Show full text]
  • Patient Safety and Pharmacovigilance
    Patient safety and pharmacovigilance ABPI Pharmacovigilance Expert Network September 2014 Introduction Medicines may affect the body in unintended, harmful ways. These effects, called side effects, adverse events or adverse reactions, represent risks of medicines. It is important to identify, as quickly as possible, new risks or changes to the known risks associated with the use of medicines. Actions must be taken to minimise the risks, maximise the benefits and promote safe and effective use of medicines by patients. These activities are known as pharmacovigilance… …The science and activities relating to the detection, assessment, understanding and prevention of adverse effects or any other medicine-related problem. …An activity contributing to the protection of patients’ and public health. Additional information regarding the safety of medicines and pharmacovigilance can be found on the following websites: Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency: Safety Information www.mhra.gov.uk/safetyinformation/ European Medicines Agency: Human Regulatory – Pharmacovigilance www.ema.europa.eu European Commission: Public Health – Medicinal Products for Human Use – The EU Pharmacovigilance System http://ec.europa.eu/health/human-use/pharmacovigilance 2 Definitions Adverse Event (AE) Any untoward medical occurrence in a patient or clinical trial subject administered a medicinal product, and which does not necessarily have a causal relationship with this treatment. Adverse Drug Reaction (ADR) A response to a medicinal product that is noxious
    [Show full text]
  • Sustaining and Spreading Improvement in Hand Hygiene
    Improvement from January 2015 Front Office to Front Line Volume 41 Number 1 Sustaining and Spreading Improvement in Hand Hygiene Compliance Features Infection Prevention and Control ■■ Editorial: Toward More Reliable Processes in Health Care “If other quality and safety ■■ Improving Hand Hygiene at Eight Hospitals in the United States by problems exhibit the same characteristics as hand Targeting Specific Causes of Noncompliance hygiene noncompliance, ■■ Beyond the Collaborative: Spreading Effective Improvement in attempting to address them Hand Hygiene Compliance everywhere with exactly the same set of interventions is Performance Improvement likely to fail because the key ■■ Using Lean Management to Reduce Blood Culture Contamination causes of the problem will differ from place to place.” Teamwork and Communication ■■ — Beyond the Collaborative: Implementation of a Standardized Postanesthesia Care Handoff Spreading Effective Improvement in Increases Information Transfer Without Increasing Handoff Duration Hand Hygiene Compliance (p. 24) Department Field Notes ■■ Inviting Families to Participate in Care: A Family Involvement Menu www.jcrinc.com The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety Infection Prevention and Control Editorial: Toward More Reliable Processes in Health Care Peter Pronovost, MD, PhD alk into most manufacturing plants that are performing Yet the important message is that RPI can improve patient care Wwell, perhaps winning the Malcolm Baldrige Award,1 and and should be applied broadly in health care. Lean and Six Sigma, you will find robust leadership and management systems focused for example, are too often considered a work process tool rather on customer needs. Good leaders establish a bedrock of values, a than as a management system. Yet the Toyota production system clear moral compass, and a compelling vision and inspire others to was based on two key principles: respect for people and continued embrace that vision.
    [Show full text]
  • Download Their Results in a Feedback Report
    Verbakel et al. BMC Family Practice 2013, 14:127 http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2296/14/127 STUDY PROTOCOL Open Access Cluster randomized, controlled trial on patient safety improvement in general practice: a study protocol Natasha J Verbakel1*, Maaike Langelaan2, Theo JM Verheij1, Cordula Wagner2,3 and Dorien LM Zwart1 Abstract Background: An open, constructive safety culture is key in healthcare since it is seen as a main condition for patient safety. Studies have examined culture improvement strategies in hospitals. In primary care, however, not much is known about effective strategies to improve the safety culture yet. The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of two patient safety culture interventions: a patient safety culture questionnaire solely, the SCOPE, or the SCOPE questionnaire combined with a patient safety workshop. The purpose of this paper is to describe the rationale and design of this trial. Methods/design: The SCOPE Intervention Study is a cluster randomized, three-armed controlled trial, that will be conducted in 30 general practices in the Netherlands. Ten practices in the first intervention arm will complete the SCOPE questionnaire and are expected to draw and implement their own improvement initiatives based on a computerised feedback report. In the second intervention arm, staff of the ten practices also will be asked to complete the SCOPE questionnaire and in addition will be given a complementary workshop. This workshop is theoretical and interactive, educating staff and facilitating discussion, leading to a practice specific action plan for patient safety improvement. The results of the SCOPE questionnaire are incorporated in the workshop.
    [Show full text]
  • Factsheet: Hand Hygiene
    Sub Factsheet: Hand Hygiene Measure Background Framework.”7 Leapfrog’s new hand hygiene standard replaces the National Quality Forum’s Safe Practice #19 Unclean hands are one of the primary ways pathogens – Hand Hygiene - which had previously been used in the are transmitted throughout the healthcare Leapfrog Hospital Survey. environment. Evidence shows that microorganisms can survive on hands for varying lengths of time, some Leapfrog’s new hand hygiene standard applies to both surviving for multiple hours.1 If those caring for patients hospitals and ASCs and includes five domains: do not take the proper steps to clean their hands, these monitoring, feedback, training and education, pathogens can easily be transmitted from one patient to infrastructure, and culture. The standard encourages another patient. In addition to patient-to-patient facilities to adopt a multimodal approach to hand transfer of pathogens, contaminated hands can also hygiene, emphasizing the importance of monitoring and transfer bacteria to clean surfaces. It is estimated that feedback. up to 13% of contact between contaminated hands and clean surfaces can result in cross-contamination.1 This Hospitals and ASCs meeting the Hand Hygiene risk of spreading bacteria in a healthcare environment standard… makes hand hygiene a pivotal patient safety practice.2 • Adhere to the monitoring domain by: o Collecting hand hygiene compliance data Despite the clear evidence and guidelines for proper on at least 200 hand hygiene hand hygiene procedures, studies have shown that on
    [Show full text]