Linda Ruterbories, director of surgical services and program development at OA – Centers for Orthopaedics, and CEO John Wipfler share four strategies for increasing the intensity and robustness of OA's ambulatory surgery center's infection control and infection prevention program.
1. Obtain 100 percent staff buy-in. Staff buy-in is undoubtedly the most important step any ASC can take toward building a robust infection control and infection prevention program. In order to achieve 100 percent staff buy-in, Ms. Ruterbories says staff members at the OA Surgery Center are encouraged to take ownership and identify infection control concerns and make suggestions to improve infection prevention. Staff members are also reassured that there will not be any punitive action, such as terminations, if any mishaps with infection control occur. A culture of fear is counter-productive to the goal of identifying and fixing problems, Mr. Wipfler says.
"An ASC can have all the tips and tricks [to having excellent infection control], but those tips and tricks won't be particularly helpful without a culture of process, protocols and accountability," Mr. Wipfler says. "Those three things have to be on the top of every employee's list. Without any accountability or a sense of ownership, it's just a bag of tricks."
2. Focus the facility's environment. OA Surgery Center conducts environmental rounds weekly, and it includes facility staff to ensure environmental checks are done routinely.. The rounds themselves were established as a means for the facility to dedicate time toward investigating the environment and its effect on infection control and prevention. Ms. Ruterbories says the staff members monitor paint chips, dings in the wall, stains on ceiling tiles and other minute details in environmental maintenance.
3. Create a core set of responsibilities. Every member of the nursing and sterile reprocessing staff at OA Surgery Center is charged with a core set of two or three responsibilities, outside their normal accountability and related to environment and infection control. The individual set of core responsibilities can vary from scraping Duraprep off the floors to cleaning out bedside cabinets and identifying furniture that is in need of repair or replacement.
"The core responsibilities help foster this culture of accountability for employees," Ms. Ruterbories says. "
4. Reinforce infection control practices. Reinforcing a culture centered around infection control and prevention requires a system of accountability. Ms. Ruterbories says this is achieved mainly by implementing a system of peer observation. The center developed a checklist of parameters as a way to audit internal compliance with protocols and best practices. These are used during surveillance observations by employees who have attended appropriate training and who give feedback to their peers on a weekly basis.
"The checklist monitors all infection control-related issues starting from the reception areas all the way through sterile reprocessing," Ms. Ruterbories says. "We've also made it a policy within our center to make sure that employees that conduct these surveillance observations are certified through APIC training."
Learn more about OA Surgery Center.
1. Obtain 100 percent staff buy-in. Staff buy-in is undoubtedly the most important step any ASC can take toward building a robust infection control and infection prevention program. In order to achieve 100 percent staff buy-in, Ms. Ruterbories says staff members at the OA Surgery Center are encouraged to take ownership and identify infection control concerns and make suggestions to improve infection prevention. Staff members are also reassured that there will not be any punitive action, such as terminations, if any mishaps with infection control occur. A culture of fear is counter-productive to the goal of identifying and fixing problems, Mr. Wipfler says.
"An ASC can have all the tips and tricks [to having excellent infection control], but those tips and tricks won't be particularly helpful without a culture of process, protocols and accountability," Mr. Wipfler says. "Those three things have to be on the top of every employee's list. Without any accountability or a sense of ownership, it's just a bag of tricks."
2. Focus the facility's environment. OA Surgery Center conducts environmental rounds weekly, and it includes facility staff to ensure environmental checks are done routinely.. The rounds themselves were established as a means for the facility to dedicate time toward investigating the environment and its effect on infection control and prevention. Ms. Ruterbories says the staff members monitor paint chips, dings in the wall, stains on ceiling tiles and other minute details in environmental maintenance.
3. Create a core set of responsibilities. Every member of the nursing and sterile reprocessing staff at OA Surgery Center is charged with a core set of two or three responsibilities, outside their normal accountability and related to environment and infection control. The individual set of core responsibilities can vary from scraping Duraprep off the floors to cleaning out bedside cabinets and identifying furniture that is in need of repair or replacement.
"The core responsibilities help foster this culture of accountability for employees," Ms. Ruterbories says. "
4. Reinforce infection control practices. Reinforcing a culture centered around infection control and prevention requires a system of accountability. Ms. Ruterbories says this is achieved mainly by implementing a system of peer observation. The center developed a checklist of parameters as a way to audit internal compliance with protocols and best practices. These are used during surveillance observations by employees who have attended appropriate training and who give feedback to their peers on a weekly basis.
"The checklist monitors all infection control-related issues starting from the reception areas all the way through sterile reprocessing," Ms. Ruterbories says. "We've also made it a policy within our center to make sure that employees that conduct these surveillance observations are certified through APIC training."
Learn more about OA Surgery Center.
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