Ambulatory surgery centers often do not have a person dedicated to infection control, so a team approach can help ensure compliance with infection prevention protocols. Sandra Jones, executive vice president and COO of ASD Management, has more than 20 years of experience in the ASC infection control space. Throughout her career, she has worked with surgery centers around the nation to provide them with the tools to improve infection control compliance.
"The biggest mistake is thinking that infection prevention compliance education can be a one-time thing," she says. "Centers should not have their staff read a policy once and hope it sticks with them. Infection control compliance has to be reinforced in different ways."
Centers can adorn their walls with different posters and flyers illustrating compliance's do's and don'ts. Because surgery centers may not have one person solely dedicated to infection control compliance, Ms. Jones advises making compliance a team effort where staff members employ various roles at different times. Administrators can designate one team member as hand hygiene monitor for a quarter while another staff member is observing how employees are processing instrumentation.
"ASC staff members often wear a lot of hats," Ms Jones says. "Because of that, you have to develop a better team atmosphere around infection control compliance. This takes a lot of education."
When starting an education program, ASD Management sends a vice president of operations to train an administrator on infection control compliance's ins and outs. The administrator then can take what he/she has learned to educate staff members.
"If administrators try to do it all, they will burn out," Ms. Jones adds. "We sometimes find when an administrator leaves, a staff member won't know how to be compliant. It is best to spread this knowledge."
To get the tools necessary to be compliant, surgery center can seek information from management companies, infection prevention specialists or risk managers who have special training in compliance. The government will continue enforcing strict infection control and patient safety guidelines and those centers without resources steering them along the right path may face financial penalties.
"There are so many more rules to follow as awareness around patient safety and infection control have increased over the years," Ms. Jones says. "ASCs should find someone to provide them resources so they don't have to reinvent the wheel. All centers want to do the right thing. Tools to help monitor and improve infection prevention activities can help the busy ASC staff focus on doing the right things right."
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