“People for Patient Safety” July 13 Infection Prevention

Every month, Pulse Center for Patient Safety Education & Advocacy holds a free open meeting called “People for Patient Safety”. These days PPS meetings are held online via Zoom, and each one has a theme. The next one will be July 13, 2020 at 7:00 pm EDT, and its theme will be Step 4 of Pulse’s TakeCHARGE Campaign: Help Prevent Infections — Ask Caregivers to Wash Their Hands.

Guest speaker will be Edward Pollak, M.D., Medical Director and Patient Safety Officer Division of Healthcare Improvement, The Joint Commission, who will talk about infection prevention.

All are welcome and invited to attend. Registration is required, here: https://pulsecenterforpatients... Only 100 places are available, so don’t delay.

Hospitals infection risk

According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) on any given day, approximately one in 25 U.S. patients has at least one infection contracted during the course of their hospital care. And that was before COVID-19.

Pulse’s President, Ilene Corina, BCPA, says, “For more than 20 years, Pulse has been teaching the value — the necessity — of making sure all medical staff wash every time they touch a patient. The medical profession also requires handwashing but the reality isn’t always like the theory, and sometimes our message seemed to fall on deaf ears. But COVID-19 has changed all that. Now nearly everyone has heard repeated calls to wash frequently with soap for 20 seconds. And Pulse’s training in how to ask clinicians and other caregivers politely but firmly to wash again, has become even more vital. It can literally be a matter of life and death.”

Help Prevent Infections — Ask Caregivers to Wash Their Hands is Step 4 of Pulse’s “TakeCHARGE Campaign - 5 Steps to Safer Health Care”, a 6-month public awareness drive conducted largely through social media.

To learn more about the July 13 People for Patient Safety meeting, visit https://pulsecenterforpatientsafety.org/pps-2/. Registration links are also on that page.

Questions about Pulse CPSEA, People for Patient Safety, or the TakeCHARGE Campaign? Please call (516) 579-4711.