Nine tips for ambulatory surgery centers to conduct surgical site infection surveillance are presented in a report by a senior infection prevention analyst at the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority.
The CMS conditions for coverage require ASCs track infections in patients post-discharge. Implementing surveillance techniques is one of the five strategies to integrate infection control practices into clinical care described in the Pennsylvania Patient Safety Authority's report, "Strategies to Fully Implement Infection Control Practices in Pennsylvania Ambulatory Surgical Facilities."
Here are nine strategies to monitor infections post-discharge from the report:
• Conduct post-discharge patient questionnaires.
• Provide post-discharge instructions asking patients to call if certain symptoms occur.
• Follow up with patients' primary care physicians to track compliance.
• Use a monthly case checklist to ask primary care physicians if the patient developed a new postoperative infection.
• Provide physicians with handouts on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network criteria for infection.
• Develop a formal surgeon agreement to report SSIs to the facility.
• Develop a formal notification process at nearby hospitals for the admission of an ASC patient with an infection.
• Review analysis of reported infections at quality improvement meetings.
• Document surveillance activities through an infection control plan, medical record entries and contact attempt records.
Editor's note: This article was updated Sept. 5 to reflect a change in the report's title. In pre-publication form, the report was titled "Ambulatory Surgical Facilities: Strategies to Integrate Basic Infection Control Concepts into Clinical Practice."
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