Tuesday, September 11, 2012

"Best Practices for the Prevention of HAI"


“9/11/12”

 

 “Best Practices Database for the Prevention of HAI”

                              

 

Today the Advocacy for the prevention of Hospital Associated Infections(HAI) in our Veteran’s Hospitals  are going to begin the process of supporting the development of the  “Best Practices Database for the Prevention of Hospital Associated Infections” in support of those who help others and to be made available, free of charge, to all Hospitals in the United States. The Great State of California is where I live and the California Department of Public Health is in the best position to make this database happen with the results ultimately giving our veterans access to the very best practices currently underway in our private hospitals.

 The following is a letter addressed the United Sates Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs from one year ago which identifies the motivation behind the effort. Many positive things have happened over the past year, the United States Department of Health and Human Services declaring HAI a “preventable disease” being the most profound, “thank you”!

 

“hia-five”

 
 

Michael H. Slavinski

_______________________________________________________________________ 

 
To: General Eric Ken Shinseki

       United States Secretary of Veteran’s Affairs

 

Date: 11/6/11

 

Re: Infection prevention in ventilators at V.A. hospitals, page 1 of 2.

 

Dear General Shinseki,

 

 At this time I will humbly ask your office to investigate the opportunity to implement a  cost and life saving innovation currently underway in the private sector.

 





http://articles.latimes.com/2011/aug/23/business/la-fi-hospital-infections-20110823
 

 Following the teachings of  W. Edwards Demming, “quality must start from the top”, the reason for my request to your office and my enthusiasm for the effort.

 The L.A. Times did an outstanding job of identifying all of the stake holders and the benefits to society, identifying the entrepreneurial spirit from the “top”, Ms. Pam Kehaly, President, Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield.

 The L.A. Times has also in the recent past highlighted the great strides the Veterans hospitals have made in inpatient care, giving me the confidence that the Veteran’s hospitals are either ahead of the curve or open to improvement. 

 This program would fit well within the parameters of President Barack Obama’s current cost cutting efforts, one of his current "key initiatives"!

Although not involved in the medical field, A.S.Q. allowed me to have some insight into the complexities of the workings of hospitals, in the 90’s several nurses gave our local chapter presentations on how to implement quality programs from the “middle down” and the less than desirable results. Dissecting the space shuttle disaster was the work of the decade, keeping a few people alive for a week in space was far less complicated than running a hospital. Personally, I struggled to figure out what motivated these nurses to go to work every day during that period for the consensus was that it was far safer in the space shuttle than it was in our local hospitals. Recently a nurse auditor at Anthem Blue Cross helped me resolve the issue, “ I strive to help at least one person every day”, our veterans deserve nothing less, even in these challenging times, in my opinion.

 

Semper Fi

 

Michael H. Slavinski  

 

Continued on next page!

 

 

Re: Infection prevention in ventilators at V.A. hospitals, page 2 of 2.

 

 

Cc:                                                                                                              

 

The Honorable United States President Barack Obama

      

 The Honorable United States Senator Barbara Boxer

 

The Honorable United States Senator Dianne Feinstein

 

The Honorable Majority Whip Congressman Kevin McCarthy

 

The Honorable United States Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus

 

General James A. Amos

Commandant of the United States Marine Corps

 

Ms. Pam Kehaly

President, Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield

 

Mr. Eddy W. Hartenstrin

Publisher and Chief Executive Officer, Los Angeles Times

President and Chief Executive Officer, Tribune Company

 

Staff

Anthem Blue Cross, Blue Shield

 

 

"If we can improve the quality of care, that will translate into lower cost," Anthem President Pam Kehaly said. "These are real dollars."
 
 


___________________________________________________________

Ps: the movie, as my knowledge develops concerning the advocacy, in the private sector, “culture” seems to be the key to preventing HAI. Thinking of our veterans , at some point someone sits down and say’s “ I want to spend over a billion dollars on training in the next three months”, no fooling! This process has been developed over the past couple of hundred years. No, the film did not cost a billion but you can clearly identify what is of value but to learn from this movie, watch the “eyes”, it is the small things that make it all work in my opinion and I really appreciate the Marine who took the time to document the complete process.

The “drowning tank”at the beginning, “train like you fight, fight like you train”, due to gravity and high temperature alloys, most things you fight in, without warning, head the bottom of the ocean upside down and on fire, from what I hear, in wartime, things do not improve very much!

Give a Veteran a break, a job and perhaps your support, think of the families of these volunteers, ten years of continuous wars, they deserve the best in my opinion and with any luck, that will happen!




http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YxtCaGqiScI
 
The picture, baby weighing in Africa, courtesy U.S. Peace Corps!
 
 




 

 

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