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Surveys

9/2/2011	Dawn Mason	Anyone using PAPRs on a regular, daily basis for isolation cases, especially for nurses/physicians with facial hair. If not, what measures are taken?
8/23/2011	Susan Cramer	Is anyone is planning to enforce a Mandatory Employee Flu vaccination policy this year that requires face masks if the employees do not receive the flu vaccine
8/18/2011	Barb Crow	What type of gloves does your facility provide for clinical areas? What type of gloves do your Environmental Service employees use? Latex? Nitrile? Vinyl? Other? (please specify) Please include any added comments/suggestions you would like to make on this topic.
8/17/2011	Vickie Shaffer	I am in the process of creating a pneumatic tube Infection Control policy and would like help from fellow IPs who have experience with pneumatic tube systems. Questions: 1. List of items not approved for transport in the system? 2. Packaging requirements for hazardous materials (e.g., lab specimens)? We intend to require that lab specimens are placed in a Ziploc biohazard bag before being inserted in Swisslog’s Zip N’ Fold™ pouch. Our lab management have requested dedicated carriers for lab specimens and biohazardous materials. This has met with resistance from facilities management who claim that dedicated carriers are not necessary and impractical because there is no way for the system to recognize that they are dedicated. Do other hospitals use dedicated carriers for biohazardous materials? If not, do you wish you had dedicated carriers? 3. Procedure for Leakage and Cleanup of spillage within carriers? 4. Procedure for Spill outside the carrier, within pneumatic system (the manufacturer gives a lot of guidance for this event, but I am particularly interested in the experience of users)? 5. Carrier routine cleaning schedule: who is responsible, what disinfectant is used, how often, etc.? 6. Are pneumatic tube work practices (e.g., standard precautions) audited for compliance with infection control precautions? 7. Do others include all Infection Prevention/Control topics within one corporate “Basic Use” policy or do they have a separate Infection Prevention/Control policy for pneumatic tube systems? Email: vickieshaffer@chwchospital.org
7/5/2011	Sue Kistler	Have you replaced your Steris systems with the new Steris 1E? Have you had any difficulties with the transition such as failing parameters involving UV lights, water pressure, water temperature or other difficulties? Please respond to skistler@Bellevuehospital.com
6/24/2011	Carol Abrams	To make a more quiet environment on our hospitals, a team of associates has suggested offering earplugs to patients. These would be disposable, one patient use. Has anyone else gone this route? I would be interested in your experiences if so.
6/1/2011	Carol Abrams	We have a surgeon that would like Sterillium (an alcohol-based, waterless surgical scrub) placed inside the operating rooms. At present, we have it in center core not far from the scrub sinks. Do any of you allow this high alcohol content product in your operating rooms? Please respond to: cabrams@bvhealthsystem.org
5/31/2011	Sara Green	We recently started using the Dispatch wipes. We have an employee that has an allergic reaction to the wipes and other bleach products. What alternative do we have for cleaning of C.Diff. or is there even one? Has anyone else encountered this problem? RESPOND TO SARA GREEN AT: sgreen@cmhosp.com
5/24/2011	Susan Kistler	what is your institution’s policy on water bottles/covered cups on Housekeeper’s carts? Reply to skistler@Bellevuehospital.com
2/22/2011	Sara Green	Can you ask the group if they require annual TB testing on non-employed physicians? 1. We offer but do not require.
2/1/2011	Sara Green	what indicator do you use to monitor the air pressure in their negative pressure rooms? Please respond to sgreen@cmhosp.com
1/21/2011	Colleen Abrams	mandatory flu vaccination program for associates?Please Respond to cabrams@bvhealthsystem.org
1/13/2011	Louise White	For Emergency Department patients, do you have separate or divided waiting areas for patients with respiratory symptoms? Reply to WhiteL@woodcountyhospital.org
1/3/2011	Barbara Crow	Regarding febrile neutropenic patients, is it your facility policy to draw blood cultures from two different peripheral sites (and if so, usually how far apart are they drawn?) or is one blood culture taken from a central line (if the patient has one) and another from a peripheral site? Or is it your facility policy to do something else? Reply to bcrow@fulhealth.org Response How often are peripheral IV sites changed? How often is the primary IV tubing changed? Additional information 1 4 days 3 days 2 96 hours 96 hours 3 72-96 hours 72-96hr w cath change unless inserted emergently in field; nursing wanted to keep 72 hr in policy 4 only if infiltrated 48 hours 5 96 hours 96 hours unless other extenuating circumstances 6 96 hours 96 hours Intermittent (IVPB in saline lock) 24 hr as is the bag; blood, TPN, Cleviprex w each new bag of product; color-coded tags to assist nurses in chnaging tubing as well as dating IV site 7 96 hours 96 hours unless started in the field, this is changed as soon as able and pt stable. 8 96 hours as long as still good 96 hours If started in field/EMS, then site and tubing changed w/in 24 hours 9 policy does not specify 96 hours site checked at least daily and changed prn 10 96 hours except for kids 96 hours including TPN 3 in 1 lipids and intermittent tubing changed every 24 hours 11 96 hours 96 hours 12 72 hours 72 hours
12/01/2010	Ball, Katherine	Could we ask the group how their facility is meeting NPSGs for LIP education? We are having difficulty identifying and establishing a process that will reach this group include it in the annual Medical Staff Safety Education packet that requires that they send back a test showing they reviewed the information. Send out mailing with return receipt Luncheon inservices and mailbox inservices
82 9/15/2010	Carolyn Wieging	Please respond to cswieging@health-partners.org Our CT scan room is rather large and the oxygen outlets are far from thepatient. An extension tubing is needed for any patient who needs a CT scan and is on O2. Is it acceptable to reuse the same extension tubing (notcannula tubing) for multiple patients?
81-9/15/2010	Julie Henry	Please respond to Julie_Henry@mhsnr.org Can anyone tell me what their practice is on re-using tourniqets? Is the lab using new tourniquets for each patient? Is anyone cleaning tourniquets in between patients? if so what are you using to clean them?
80-9/8/10	Ann Smith	Please reply to ann.smith@memorialhcs.org Could you please post to the membership: Does anyone have policies specific to COBAN use? If so would you be willing to share them?
79-8/10/2010	Sara Green	Please respond to Sara Green at sgreen@cmhosp.com Under the NPSG.07.03.01 #5 -Measure and monitor multidrug resistant organism infection rates using evidence-based metrics. What are you using for evidence-based metrics? Thanks for your assistance.