Nearly 200 stakeholders, who convened at Premier healthcare alliance and the Safe Injection Practices Coalition's open meeting, developed 22 safe injection practices.
Proceedings, background materials and other resources from the open meeting, which occurred last April, have also recently been released. The attending stakeholders include representatives from government, public health, clinicians, professional and accreditation organizations, product manufacturers and patients. The 22 safe infection practices include the following:
Education
• Educate patients to explain safe injections and how to ensure they're receiving safe care during injections.
• Continue to educate clinicians and broadly disseminate best practice guidelines based on evidence-based safe practices for infection prevention and control.
• Develop resources to help implement best practices.
• Correct or refute mistaken information on safe injection practices.
• Assess the obstacles to use of current safety technologies and educate clinicians on appropriate use.
• Dispel myths and misperceptions about what is safe practice and discourage inappropriate reuse in the interest of conserving costs.
Clinical best practices
• Carefully and regularly review infection prevention and control protocols.
• Ensure safe practices are understood and followed by all clinical staff.
• Create a safety culture whereby every provider is empowered to stop any colleague from engaging in unsafe practices.
• Work with pharmacy partners and others so that medications are supplied in a form that is ready to deliver, minimizing the need for manipulation and opportunities for contamination and disease transmission.
• Work to develop curricula in nursing, medical, and other healthcare professional training and vocational programs on safe injection practices.
• Request safe design information from manufacturers as part of the clinical evaluation and purchasing process.
Research and surveillance
• Conduct studies to evaluate safer practices and safety signals.
• Continue to research clinical practice to ensure progress is being made.
• Improve surveillance of healthcare-associated infections at the state, national and institutional levels so the impact of prevention efforts can be documented and shared.
• Develop calculators and value analysis methodologies that assess the total cost of products, balanced with quality and outcomes implications.
Product design
• Redesign injection devices to make compliance with safety best practices easy and error proof.
• Develop consistent and clear labeling of injection-related products, including medication vials, containers and devices to encourage intended usage.
• Consider options for packaging, such as right-sized syringes or vials for specific clinical application.
• Create clear, consistent and understandable labeling requirements.
Collaboration
• Collaborate across governmental agencies and among stakeholders to identify solutions to prevent unsafe practices.
• Collaborate between providers and manufacturers to design products that support easy compliance with safe injection practices.
Proceedings, background materials and other resources from the open meeting, which occurred last April, have also recently been released. The attending stakeholders include representatives from government, public health, clinicians, professional and accreditation organizations, product manufacturers and patients. The 22 safe infection practices include the following:
Education
• Educate patients to explain safe injections and how to ensure they're receiving safe care during injections.
• Continue to educate clinicians and broadly disseminate best practice guidelines based on evidence-based safe practices for infection prevention and control.
• Develop resources to help implement best practices.
• Correct or refute mistaken information on safe injection practices.
• Assess the obstacles to use of current safety technologies and educate clinicians on appropriate use.
• Dispel myths and misperceptions about what is safe practice and discourage inappropriate reuse in the interest of conserving costs.
Clinical best practices
• Carefully and regularly review infection prevention and control protocols.
• Ensure safe practices are understood and followed by all clinical staff.
• Create a safety culture whereby every provider is empowered to stop any colleague from engaging in unsafe practices.
• Work with pharmacy partners and others so that medications are supplied in a form that is ready to deliver, minimizing the need for manipulation and opportunities for contamination and disease transmission.
• Work to develop curricula in nursing, medical, and other healthcare professional training and vocational programs on safe injection practices.
• Request safe design information from manufacturers as part of the clinical evaluation and purchasing process.
Research and surveillance
• Conduct studies to evaluate safer practices and safety signals.
• Continue to research clinical practice to ensure progress is being made.
• Improve surveillance of healthcare-associated infections at the state, national and institutional levels so the impact of prevention efforts can be documented and shared.
• Develop calculators and value analysis methodologies that assess the total cost of products, balanced with quality and outcomes implications.
Product design
• Redesign injection devices to make compliance with safety best practices easy and error proof.
• Develop consistent and clear labeling of injection-related products, including medication vials, containers and devices to encourage intended usage.
• Consider options for packaging, such as right-sized syringes or vials for specific clinical application.
• Create clear, consistent and understandable labeling requirements.
Collaboration
• Collaborate across governmental agencies and among stakeholders to identify solutions to prevent unsafe practices.
• Collaborate between providers and manufacturers to design products that support easy compliance with safe injection practices.
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