Steve Corl, administrator at Mackinaw Surgery Center in Saginaw, Mich., explains how the surgery center selected an infection control officer and created greater infection control awareness to meet the standards set by the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program.
Q: What was the biggest challenge facing Mackinaw Surgery Center during the HFAP accreditation survey?
Steve Corl: CMS released new rules in 2009 that required ASCs to have an infection control officer, and that was a new standard that we hadn't seen yet. The requirement is that infection control officers have training and education that is above and beyond what they were exposed to previously. They are also in charge of the education through the rest of the facility.
Q: How did Mackinaw ensure a proper infection control officer was selected?
SC: What was nice was that the state of New York came up with an infection control program that you can do online that certified you as an infection control officer. We had one of our nurses take that online course to get that certification and be better trained on issues specific to infection control.
Q: How does the infection control officer maintain a high level of awareness of infection control issues among staff members?
SC: The nurses have a quarterly education session where they pick a topic that is related to infection control. If something comes up in the news or our management company says to focus on a particular issue, then we'll focus on that. The quarterly meetings are usually 15 minutes to half an hour. For example, a topic they might discuss is MRSA, which is a type of infection. Or if the infection control nurse wants to refresh the staff's memory about sterilizations, she'll demonstrate proper sterilization of surgical instruments on the floor.
Learn more about Mackinaw Surgery Center.
Thank you to Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program for arranging this interview.
Q: What was the biggest challenge facing Mackinaw Surgery Center during the HFAP accreditation survey?
Steve Corl: CMS released new rules in 2009 that required ASCs to have an infection control officer, and that was a new standard that we hadn't seen yet. The requirement is that infection control officers have training and education that is above and beyond what they were exposed to previously. They are also in charge of the education through the rest of the facility.
Q: How did Mackinaw ensure a proper infection control officer was selected?
SC: What was nice was that the state of New York came up with an infection control program that you can do online that certified you as an infection control officer. We had one of our nurses take that online course to get that certification and be better trained on issues specific to infection control.
Q: How does the infection control officer maintain a high level of awareness of infection control issues among staff members?
SC: The nurses have a quarterly education session where they pick a topic that is related to infection control. If something comes up in the news or our management company says to focus on a particular issue, then we'll focus on that. The quarterly meetings are usually 15 minutes to half an hour. For example, a topic they might discuss is MRSA, which is a type of infection. Or if the infection control nurse wants to refresh the staff's memory about sterilizations, she'll demonstrate proper sterilization of surgical instruments on the floor.
Learn more about Mackinaw Surgery Center.
Thank you to Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program for arranging this interview.