Patient Safety Sentinel

Transmission-Based Precautions

(Isolation)

Patients at Cooper University Health Care with multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) such as, but not limited to, MRSA, ESBL, and C. diff are placed on appropriate precautions depending on the mode of transmission.… Read more.

The purpose of the National Patient Safety Goals is to improve patient safety. The goals focus on problems in health care safety and how to solve them.

Identify patients correctly

NPSG.01.01.01 Use at least two ways to identify patients.… Read more.

Hand Hygiene and Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) in Emergencies

Your safety is important! Do not rush into activities that can result in harm to you.

• An employee with a weakened immune system should not enter a room unprotected from a communicable disease.

Infection Prevention & Workflow for Workstations on Wheels (WOWs) 

HOW

• When cleaning sensitive electronic equipment, AF 3 Gray Top wipes (alcohol free) are preferred. Please follow the equipment manufacturer’s recommendations.

WHEN

• WOWs should be cleaned by wiping all surfaces using friction, including the base…
  • At the beginning and end of your shift.

This was originally posted on April, 17, 2017. It is being reposted because questions have been raised about the proper use of the various disinfectant products. Please keep this as a reference document.

Below are the most common disinfecting products and their contact times, which have been approved for use at Cooper.… Read more.

Regulated Medical Waste (Red Bag Trash)

What Should Go In Red Bags:

• Anything soaked or saturated with blood or bodily fluid.
• Any type of waste from an isolation patient.
• Anything with a bio-hazard label, including specimen bags.

Pharmaceutical Waste

Sharps Disposal

All syringes with or without needles (even oral), ampules, detached needles, and spikes on IV tubing are all considered sharps.

Medication/Non-Sharps Disposal

• Empty medication bottles and vials go in regular trash.
• Some special medications, as indicated on the label, need to be returned to pharmacy, such as albuterol inhalers.

Initiating Isolation Precautions (RNs)

Isolation Precautions should be initiated at the first suspicion of a need for Isolation.

Nurses Initiating and Documentation in Epic:

The below Epic screenshot demonstrates how nurses can initiate precautions in the patient Electronic Medical Record (EMR)-EPIC.… Read more.

Surgical Masks

A surgical mask is protective for both the health care worker and for the patient. A mask protects the health care worker from infections transmitted by respiratory droplets and protects the mouth and nose from splashes or sprays of blood or bodily fluids.… Read more.

Enteric Contact Precautions

Enteric Precautions are used for suspect (rule-out) or confirmed to have C diff or norovirus.

• C diff can remain in the environment for several months meaning the patient room and items in the room can remain contaminated for long periods of time.