Is there any area that infection control specialists find particularly challenging?
A One of the challenging standards has been moved to the National Patient Safety Goals—those are the standards that we’re putting a spotlight on. National Patient Safety Goal 7A requires organizations to comply with current CDC hand hygiene guidelines. For whatever reason, organizations struggle with getting people to perform hand hygiene at the appropriate time. But as far as infection control is concerned, our surveyors take a thorough look at basic things. They make sure people wash their hands. They make sure people use correct personal protective equipment. They look at sterilization and disinfection. We make sure the organization is monitoring those things when applicable and that they are designing their process to continually improve. Q Since JCAHO began its surprise visits, have you found hospitals to be more prepared? A It’s too soon to have definitive data, but we’re in the process of measuring it. Anecdotally, we are getting positive feedback from organizations. It seems to
