ICCS Publishes Special Report on Surgical Attire in the OR

ICCS Founder Phenelle Segal, RN, CIC, has published a new special report discussing regulations and guidelines concerning surgical attire worn in the operating room (OR).

The report addresses the recently published statement on professional attire for surgeons from the American College of Surgeons (ACS).

While Segal praises the value of organizations bringing attention to infection prevention issues, she notes that "... aspects of the statement have created significant confusion amongst hospital and ambulatory surgery center (ASC) staff," specifically concerning head coverings.

Read the ICCS special report on surgical attire compliance.

Phenelle Segal Discusses ASC Antibiotic Stewardship With Becker's

In a new column published by Becker's Infection Control & Clinical Quality, ICCS Founder Phenelle Segal, RN, CIC, discusses ambulatory surgery center antibiotic stewardship programs.

The piece is titled "3 challenges ASC face in multidisciplinary antibiotic stewardship program implementation."

As the column notes, "Antibiotic stewardship is a key component of infection prevention, and may be quite challenging as antibiotic stewardship varies across the continuum of care. ... While hospitals have been working for several years to develop these programs, the concept is relatively new for ASCs and they face a certain set of challenges when devising a program."

The ASC antibiotic stewardship challenges identified by Phenelle concern the following:

1. Inappropriate antibiotic use
2. Lack of resources to integrate a multidisciplinary approach
3. Education and guidelines deficit

View the Becker's column by clicking here.

Need help developing and implementing an antibiotic stewardship program? Contact ICCS today!

ICCS Publishes Special Report on Impact of Cost Cutting on Infection Prevention

ICCS Founder Phenelle Segal, RN, CIC, has published a new special report discussing the risks organizations take when they reduce investments in areas affecting patient safety and regulatory compliance.

The report acknowledges the importance of managing costs, and notes that tasks and services not associated with contributing to the bottom line are often targeted first for cuts.

The problem with such an approach to reducing expenses is that, as Segal says, ... "when these tasks and services concern patient safety and compliance with regulations, small financial gains are often wiped out and easily surpassed by the expenses associated with problems that develop down the road."

Such ramifications can include increasing infections, citations, fines, expenses to correct issues and declines in staff satisfaction.

Read the special report on infection prevention compliance.

Phenelle Segal Discusses CMS Surveys With Infection Control Today

Infection Control Consulting Services (ICCS) Founder Phenelle Segal, RN, CIC, is featured in a new Infection Control Today column about Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) surveys.

The title of the piece is "CMS Surveys: A Primer for the Infection Preventionist."

In the article, Phenelle provides background information on the CMS survey process. She also discusses some of the most common infection prevention and control CMS survey deficiencies.

To access the ICT column, click here.

Phenelle Segal Writes About Surgery Center Infection Prevention for Outpatient Surgery Magazine

Infection Control Consulting Services President Phenelle Segal, RN, CIC, has contributed a column to the June issue of Outpatient Surgery Magazine.

The title of the piece is "Where to Focus Your Infection Prevention Efforts." In it, Phenelle discusses five areas surgical facilities should focus on to improve their infection prevention efforts.

These areas are as follows:

1. Unsafe infection practices
2. Surgical attire
3. Hand hygiene
4. Environmental cleaning
5. Pre-cleaning

To read the column, click here (free account may be required for access).

For assistance with outpatient surgery infection prevention, including survey preparation, risk assessment, education, onboarding and plans of correction contact ICCS.