standard for infection rate reporting was reached last week among experts in infection control and prevention, representatives from state government agencies, public health, and consumer groups.
The action followed a two-day consensus conference in
Kathy Warye, APIC’s executive director said, “We accomplished the goal of the
conference by reaching consensus that development of a national standard for public reporting is the best approach for providing consumers with meaningful and reliable information.”
“As patient safety advocates, we are devoted to infection control and prevention, and recognize the importance of providing consumers with comparable infection rate information,” said APIC President Sue Sebazco, RN, CIC.
Lisa McGiffert, representing the Consumers Union (CU), spoke to attendees about CU’s
Stop Hospital Infections campaign, and stressed the important role of the infection
prevention community. “We think infection control is fundamental to healthcare and to
making this [reducing infections] work. We hope that what comes out of all of this is that
infection control professionals get more support for what they do. Patients will be safer as
a result. We believe you need more visible roles and I look forward to working with you
to pursue these efforts.”
Joining APIC in presenting this conference were the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention, the American Hospital Association, Consumers Union, National Quality
Forum, and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.
Source: APIC