Tips January

Looking for resources to help educate your staff on today's hottest topics?

Want to know what your colleagues have to say and what they are doing to address the issues?

This section highlights:

Training Tips and Comments from your colleagues
"Nursing" in the news
Links to other valuable resources

Envision, Inc. would like to use this newsletter as an opportunity to create a new community of healthcare professionals from around the world. We invite you and your colleagues to share the wealth of your knowledge and experience. The more people who participate, the more valuable this tool becomes.

Invite your colleagues to join the community by sending this page to them!

The next issue will focus on.....

Patient Safety

Don't forget to register for your chance to win a FREE TRAINING PROGRAM from Envision, Inc.

February 2003 Highlights:

February 10th - 14th
Cardiac Rehabilitation Week

American Heart Month

Kids E.N.T. (Ear, Nose, Throat) Month

National Children's Dental Health Month

March 2003 Highlights:

What are your thoughts? We want to know!
Give us your feedback.

Training Tips and Comments:

Preparing Staff for the New Hand Hygiene Guidelines

"In preparing our staff for the new Hand Hygiene Guideline, we provided basic information about the advantages and informed everyone that alcohol-based hand rubs would be made available. We have it outside each patient room and physicians use it as they travel the hallways leading to their offices. Several of them have even expressed interest in using the products in their offices. The staff and physicians are most appreciative of the convenience and the fact that it does not negatively impact their hands."

Deanie Lancaster
Risk Control Officer
Saint Thomas Health Services
Nashville, TN

"We have been using alcohol-based hand gels in patient rooms and at workstations for about a year, but we plan to give staff an overview of the new CDC Hand Hygiene Guideline using an educational video. We will distribute it to the various units of the facility as sort of a roaming inservice."

Anita Faherty
Infection Control
St. Mary's Medical Center
Huntington, WV

"We are including in the facility's own customized calendar pictures of staff using hand hygiene products with the phrase 'Positive Patient Outcomes Are In Your Hands!' We are also contributing information on our new dispensers and products in "Nursing Profiles", the nursing staff newsletter. We are developing an educational document on the smallpox disease and vaccine that will be distributed to every employee. This packet includes information on smallpox, the disease, the smallpox vaccine risks and possible side affects associated with the vaccine and New Jersey's Preparedness Vaccination Plan. This will help employees become more aware of the disease in order to make an educated decision on whether or not to receive the vaccine, as well as to participate in the Hospital Health Care Response Team (HHCRT)".

Sarah O'Grady-Liddy
Corporate Infection Control
St. Mary's Hospital
Hoboken, NJ

"Winter hand care is fundamental to the total hand hygiene emphasis. Cracked, chapped hands provide an opportunity for transmission for bloodborne pathogens and discourage the healthcare workers from properly washing hands. Use a hand lotion that is compatible with glove materials and antiseptic agents. Appropriate lotions are generally water based and not petroleum based. The lotion should be approved by your hospital's Infection Control Team and should be widely available to encourage use. Take care of your hands this winter, your patients depend on it."

Vicki Brinsko
Coordinator of Infection Control
Vanderbilt University Medical Center
Nashville, TN

"Nursing" in the news

Staffing Ratio Mandate Rekindles Debate Over Nursing Personnel
(Nurse Week)

Nurses in Short Supply as Number of Seniors Increases
(Sun-Sentinel)

Though Enrollments Rise at U.S. Nursing Colleges and Universities, Increase is Insufficient to Meet the Demand for New Nurses
(U.S. Newswire)

Short-staffed Washington Hospitals Recruiting Nurses from Abroad
(Tribnet.com)

Salary Factors into Nurses Teaching Nurses
(Rockford Register Star)

Consumer Reports Releases Report on Patient Satisfaction
(Nursezone.com)

Informative Links:

Associate for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)

Outpatient Surgery Magazine