What your mom told you as child: Wash your hands!
What MediSys tells us as employees: Wash your hands! Get your flu shot! Keep a clean work environment!
In an effort to decrease the spread of infection, Brookdale, Jamaica and Flushing hospitals have taken part in the Infection Prevention Quality Coach Program, a new collaborative organized by the Greater New York Hospital Association (GNYHA) and 1199 SEUI. This new program is aimed at helping hospitals improve infection prevention practices related to hand hygiene, health care worker immunization and environmental cleanliness.
As a part of this initiative, each participating hospital will send 16 employees from four selected units to participate in a two-day training session that encourages the understanding of concepts related to infection control.
According to Terri Straub, Vice President of Quality and Patient Safety at GNYHA, participants will learn about various aspects of infections—what is an infection, how is it spread, and what are possible methods of prevention—and be taught how to translate what they learned into practice and help their peers increase compliance with infection prevention.
“We want our employees to become mentors and help fight the battle of health care related infections,” said Linda Jendresky, Director of Infection Control at Brookdale Hospital.
“Everyone has to be a champion for infection control,” added Judy Fine Director of Infection Control for Jamaica and Flushing Hospital. “We want to make sure that we have a safe environment with no adverse outcomes for patients, visitors, and even our own employees.”
The decision to take part in this program will greatly improve infection prevention practices and help eliminate hospital-associated infections.
There are a total of 28 participating hospitals in the greater New York region. Brookdale Hospital is scheduled to attend their session on November 5-6; Flushing Hospital on November 19-20; and Jamaica Hospital on November 26-27.
What MediSys' now wants to know: How often are you washing your hands? Have you had your flu shot?