Patients at Joint Commission-accredited long term acute hospitals get fewer catheter-associated urinary tract infections and fewer central line-associated bloodstream infections than those at nonaccredited ones, a study published in the June 2024 issue of The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety found.
Researchers compared data from a total of 333 facilities — 244 of which were accredited by The Joint Commission and 89 that were not. Facilities that were accredited had fewer infections for the two healthcare-associated infections described above, but no differences were found for Clostridioides difficile infection rates between accredited and nonaccredited long term acute hospitals.
"Positive associations were observed between Joint Commission accreditation and infection control measures," Beth Longo, DrPH, MSN, RN, study author and associate director of research at The Joint Commission, stated in the news release. "Multiple factors may explain these findings, such as the focus of Joint Commission standards on infection control and prevention and its approach to working with healthcare organizations during the survey process to identify and address infection-related risks."