4 Stories You Need: Sepsis Month, Cutting SSIs, Coordinate Care to Reduce HAIs

We know you’re busy, but we don’t want you to miss important healthcare quality and patient safety news. Here’s a roundup of stories you may have missed but need to take a look at before calling it a week. (Sign up on the right if you’d like these news alerts delivered to you.)

1. CDC video emphasizes importance of early sepsis detection
   September is sepsis awareness month. Use the resources in this article, including a printable/shareable infographic (PDF) describing this life-threatening condition that strikes more than 1 million patients each year.
2. How Hospitals are Cutting SSI Rates
   According to the CDC, surgical site infections cost up to $10 billion annually. Learn what hospitals across the country, including some participants in The Joint Commission’s SSI project, have discovered via efforts to determine what factors are contributing to SSIs following high-risk procedures like colorectal and gastrointestinal surgeries as well as joint replacement and cardiac surgeries.
3. How coordinated care can reduce hospital-acquired infections
   Consider the data, examples and illustrations that this author (an infectious disease physician) uses to show the impact of facilities working together versus each taking a more concentrated, independent approach when dangerous bacteria invade a healthcare system.
4. Wash Your Hands and Get Your Flu Shot, or Get Out
   Leaders with the National Patient Safety Foundation’s Lucian Leape Institute say it’s time that hospitals take a “no excuses” approach with staff when it comes to annual influenza vaccinations and hand washing compliance.