McCleary MRSA Prevention

Sending warm vibes from Florida….still standing up for Patient Safety.  Nurses, in the right numbers, keep patients safe.  Stand strong.
I am at the Institute of Healthcare Improvement National Forum in Florida. IHI is considered to be very progressive and effective with patient safety measures including Central line and other bundles. It is my understanding that EMMC uses the IHI CLABSI prevention bundle.
 Presenters came from all over the country and world to tell us about their effective approaches to very serious quality issues, medical errors and infections.   Amazing strides have been made in Patient Safety.  Many are touting their own facilities progress,  because so many have them have gone a full year without ONE SINGLE CLABSI!!   Others are reducing their HAI rates with effective and extensive IC programs including MRSA screening and Isolation and other HAI prevention methods.  Early detection Sepsis bundles are being used and are working in hospitals nationwide.  Sepsis is being detected earlier and more lives are being saved because the bundle use starts in the ER with early screening. The “bundle” includes  blood Lactate and Blood cultures…always done together.  They have pins that say “Got Lactate?” and the tubes for those two  blood tests are “bundled” together.  Simple strategies that make the bundle easy to use with consistency.  This is amazing news…encouraging news.  I am thrilled…

These innovative and powerful approaches require a cultural change within facilities.  Safety must become the priority….the number one priority from the Board of Directors, to the CEO, to the CNO, to the COO, to middle management, to the physicians, pharmacists, Quality and IC departments and on down the line……YEP, all the way to the bedside nurse (I think you should be at the HEAD Of the line)   There is no “quality” without “safety”

Every single new, innovative, effective approach for safety and infection prevention  requires hands on, eyes on and ears on the PATIENTS and on the process. Every new bundle requires monitoring and nurses do that.  Safety approaches (bundles and infection prevention measures) require time….mostly direct bedside nursing care time.  Every patient deserves the safest best care every time. 
The chaos and fire snuffing caused by insufficient staffing is not acceptable…it never has been and never will be. 
Stand strong for your patients. Keep them safe.  And when you get past this grueling negotiation process and time allows,  promote and get yourselves onto patient safety committees to further your agenda for Patient Safety.
I wore my heart shaped MSNA pin stating that “Patients are my Special Interest” and I got tons of comments on it…people wanting to know where I got it.  You can all be sure I told them…in detail…where I got it and about your fight for Safer Patient Care.
My body is in FL but my heart is with the MSNA nurses…….