High level of sanitation vital to patient safety and to lowering readmissions and morbidity

A shocking story published in the Wall Street Journal* last month is enough to make your skin crawl. No, it wasn’t an article about substandard medical practices in remote third-world nations. It was about unsafe injection practices, improper medication preparation and the re-use of single-dose vials and needles right here in the U.S. Just when you thought those days were gone.

The article serves as a reminder for healthcare employers and professionals to maintain a high level of hygiene and sanitation in all aspects of practice. Sadly, the thousands of patients who were potentially exposed to Hepatitis B, C, HIV and other serious infectious diseases in the article didn’t have to be. All that was required was for caregivers to acknowledge what one commentary referred to as ‘sterile techniques 101’: Don’t use needles twice, single-dose vials are just that – single dose; and always prepare injection medications in a sterilized environment.

Though much has been done at the regulatory level over the past decade to improve safe medical practices in hospitals – outpatient clinics, as indicated the spate of cases mentioned in the article – may still have a long way to go. Authors posit that governmental oversight of outpatient safety standards is lackadaisical and many offer treatments at rates lower than hospitals because they cut corners by means of unethical cost-saving measures such as re-use.

In for a 2-minute colonoscopy out with Hepatitis C

Imagine arriving for an outpatient procedure as simple as a colonoscopy and leaving with liver-threatening Hepatitis C. It’s what happened to 85 patients – maybe more – visiting a Las Vegas Endoscopy clinic** in 2008. The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) determined unsafe injection practices at the clinic exposed a potential 40,000 patients to the blood of already infected patients, some during an anesthesia drip for the simple procedure. The incident resulted in a statewide medical panic.

Candidate Direct Healthcare Staffing Software assists employers meet stringent hiring guidelines

Nurses know their track record of performance is under constant scrutiny. To this end, Candidate Direct provides healthcare employers with an Internet-based staffing platform to hire, track and document top-performing practitioners. To learn more call 800-585-1710 or click Get Started and a Candidate Direct representative will contact you promptly.

*At the Clinic…Care and Infection

**Large-scale hepatitis alert has no precedent