The Joint Commission updated its hand hygiene standard for all accreditation programs.
Here's what you should know:
1. Effective Jan. 1, 2018, the new policy will penalize any individual involved with direct patient care that fails to perform hand hygiene, citing the offense as a deficiency resulting in a Requirement for Improvement.
2. The RFI will be under Infection Prevention and Control Standard IC.02.01.01, EP 2.
3. Surveyors will continue to survey an organization's hand hygiene program on the National Patient Safety Goal NPSG.07.01.01.
4. The Joint Commission is changing the standard because it feels organizations have had enough time to train personnel on hand hygiene.
In its update, The Joint Commission said, "While there are various causes for healthcare-associated infections, The Joint Commission has determined that failure to perform hand hygiene associated with direct care of patient should no longer be one of them."
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