The Joint Commission announced major overhauls in their hand hygiene standards effective January 1, 2018…next week. You need to read these new policies if you have not already done so. This is the boldest stance taken to date to make improvement in this vital area.
A hospital will now be cited if any individual is seen failing to clean their hands one time. The hospital can be cited and accreditation can and will be affected. This new standard considers a single missed hand hygiene opportunity as a threat to a patient's life.
This is the first major change to these program standards since they were originally put in place in 2004 and most in the industry consider it to be about time and a step in the right direction.
Keep those hands clean and your patients and yourself safe. Proper hand hygiene, as we all know, is one of the most important aspects of the healthcare industry to stop the spread of infection.
Be safe and let's start the new year making sure we all follow these policies.
Mary Crawford, HealthCare Employment Network