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occurred during in-hospital care?
Enlisting patients
The answers might lead to changes in practices that ensure the same
thing won't happen again. For example, after an undetected finger infec-
tion in a total joint patient resulted in an SSI, the hospital updated its
EMR template to ensure the pre-op staff asks questions that confirm
patients are truly ready for surgery: Have you had any previous infec-
tion? Do you have any wound that's non-healing? Have you had dental
work done recently? Ms. Wright says it's more important than ever to
curb infection rates, which are on the Internet for all to see — especially
the patients who are deciding where to go for their surgeries. "Our low
infection rate is a huge sense of pride," she says. "We're good at reducing
SSI risks, and it feels great knowing our patients are safe."
— Daniel Cook
