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Spring is the season for conferences and live events, which can go a very long way toward revitalizing your outlook....
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By: Terry Roth
Published: 5/13/2015
As a high-volume orthopedic facility that uses implants in almost every case, we're especially concerned about surgical site infections. Two-plus years ago, we set out to reduce MSSA (methicillin-sensitive Staphylococcus aureus) and MRSA (methicillin-resistant S. aureus) infections, and our efforts are paying off. Here are the key elements to our protocol:
Our preemptive measures are paying off
For the last 2 years, we've reduced our infection rates to well below the national average for total hips, total knees, laminectomies and spinal fusion. Having seen the results, all of our surgeons now fully embrace the effort. Our plan going forward is to look for other evidence-based initiatives that might further reduce our infection rates.
Since staff education plays a big role in everything we do to reduce SSIs, we meet periodically to discuss and review our efforts — both for more in-depth initiatives, like this one, and to review the basics, like hand-washing. We have people keeping tabs on how compliant our staff and physicians are, and we make sure we display our results. We also make sure the staff has a stake in the outcome. Our SSI rate is one of the metrics they need to meet to achieve performance bonuses. When you consider how much it costs a facility any time a patient ends up with an infection, preemptive measures are just good sense, even if they mean taking a little extra time and spending a little extra money.
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