The Center’s first initiative is tackling hand washing failures that contribute to healthcare-associated infections that kill nearly 100,000 Americans each year and cost U.S. hospitals $4 billion-$29 billion annually to combat, according to the release.
Eight leading hospitals and health systems volunteered to address hand washing failures as a critical patient safety problem — one that requires fixes far more complex than just putting up signs urging caregivers to wash their hands, according to the release. Participants in the Center’s first project include:
• Cedars-Sinai Health System, Los Angeles, Calif.
• Exempla Lutheran Medical Center, Wheat Ridge, Colo.
• Froedtert Hospital, Milwaukee, Wis.
• The Johns Hopkins Hospital and Health System, Baltimore, Md.
• Memorial Hermann Health Care System, Houston, Texas
• Trinity Health, Novi, Mich.
• Virtua, Marlton, N.J.
• Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center, Winston-Salem, N.C.
Preliminary studies suggest that random observation is not enough to induce appropriate hand washing behavior. The targeted solutions from the Center now being tested education and accountability initiatives, using a reliable method to measure performance, frequent communication and real-time performance feedback.
The Center’s next patient safety challenge will target breakdowns in hand-off communications.
Read The Joint Commission’s release on the Center for Transforming Healthcare.
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