MHA's Society for Risk Management

Do You Hold Staff Accountable for Safety?

Peer pressure, keen monitoring and clear expectations compel physicians and others to follow hospital protocols on everything from hand hygiene to OR time-outs. Read more from Hospitals & Health Networks magazine here.

Hospitals Shouldn't Get Stingy with Disinfectants, Says Study

A recent study found that certain organisms can actually become less susceptible to both disinfectants and antibiotics. Although it was an experiment conducted in a laboratory with just one disinfectant, one strain, and one antibiotic, one expert says the effects of this experiment are very real for healthcare facilities.

Read more here.

Doctors, risk managers view apologies, error disclosure, differently

A new study looking at medical errors shows that while risk managers are more likely to want an error disclosed to a patient, a physician is more likely to want to issue an apology to patients. The difference in attitudes and perspective may reduce the effectiveness of risk management. Read more here.

CDC to study HAIs and antimicrobial usage

The CDC will conduct two surveys in order to gauge national figures for HAIs and antimicrobial usage, according to the January 27 Federal Register.

The CDC hasn’t conducted such a survey since the 1980s and found that 5% of hospitalized patients acquired an infection not present on admission. Since then many more specific infections have surfaced including device-associated and procedure-associated infections.

The first proposed survey will be conducted in 30 facilities across 10 states and will require information from IPs and staff members in each facility. The second survey will go out to 500 facilities in the same 10 states, using the same methodology.

[ via Infection Control Weekly Monitor ]