Preventing
HAI and a quiet revolution!
One plan to "prevent" Hospital Associated
Infections(HAI) in our Veteran's Hospitals!
The
"hai-five" advocacy for the prevention of Hospital Associated
Infections (HAI) in our Veteran's Hospitals is progressing well. After spending
the first year attempting to understand the mechanics of the medical system and
why HAI is in them, well, one of our observers used the cliché "Rome was
not built in a day", in my opinion, scale wise, you would have to toss in
the Mongol Hoards as well to come even close to the complexity of the human body and our current medical
system.
How to help our
Veterans, that was easy, "fix the entire system", no problem, the men and
women of our armed forces never gave up on us!
What revolution, in
my opinion, it started recently at the U.S. Department of Health and Human
Services:
Re: Public comment of Phase 3 in the 5-year National Action Plan
to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections: Roadmap to Elimination
(HAI Action Plan).
OK, cut paste, wooo, rewind! "Prevention" I have
been reading the "religion" of "reducing" the occurrence of
HAI for the past year, in my opinion, the term "reducing" in a long
term goal is a free pass for HAI to cost our mothers, fathers, sisters,
brothers and veterans their lives for a long time and cost our "medical
system" a.k.a. "us" billions of dollars every year!
"Evidence based" medicine is the "answer" for most ailments, there are just too
many variables to rely on the human mind, 99% correct most of the time! In the
case of HAI, Ventilator Acquired Pneumonia (VAP) in particular, easily
preventable, it is evidence of the fact that patient safety is still dependant
upon the commitment of the health care provider and may well lead to your or a
loved one's death! To prevent V.A.P., just follow the documented procedures,
many facilities have not had an occurrence of V.A.P. in years and we need to
start certifying these V.A.P. free facilities in my opinion and pass the
success story with the Veteran's Hospitals A.S.A.P.
Where is the
"revolution", here we
go, August 16, 2012, U.S.A. Today,
"C.diff hits half-million Americans every year", bad story, most of
the problem is the E.P.A. making some bad decisions concerning disinfectants,
the real story, the press is very well educated on the issue, the origin of my
advocacy:
Where is the "Beef",
Hospital Consumer Assessment of Healthcare Providers
and Systems Survey
(HCAHPS pronounced "H-caps")
Scores:
A 27-item survey for measuring
patient's perceptions of their hospital experience!
My comment to this:
Will H.C.A.H.P.S. scores have a tight correlation with
H.A.I. occurrences? The question is yet
unanswered but I do believe HCAHPS will be no friend of HAI!
Hospital Readmission Rates, currently hospitals will forfeit about $280 million according
to Kaiser Health News, 2012, in Medicare funds over the next year as the
government begins a wide-ranging push to start health care providers based on
the quality of care they provide.
Through in some random score cards and it will soon be easy
to distinguish a safe and efficient healthcare facility, the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, not
great but the center of the "Revolution"!
The focus of my
advocacy is directed at the good people of the California Department of Public
Health for the U.S.D.H.H.S. is waiting for "best practices" to be
developed at the State level with the intent of standardizing the process of "Preventing"
HAI in our medical facilities and the Veteran's Administration is watching the
actions at both levels.
In the mean time I
am going to encourage the Veteran's Administration to investigate Anthem Blue
Crosses "Patient Safety First" program until the U.S.D.H.H.S. starts
implementing these "best practices", this one is in plane English:
"If we can improve the quality
of care, that will translate into lower cost," Anthem President Pam Kehaly
said. "These are real dollars”
The picture, it is not about the bike, in one of my
professional communications, in error, I described the genitic link between the
Irish and Tater-tots, so behind my desk I have a picture of my Irish Grandmother
and my Grandfather from somewhere east of France and described my wife as
Brooklyn Irish. The responce, " I think your sense of humor might be a
family trait"! The family tree on that side of the family, pretty much a
"woodpile" until now! This advocacy is dedicated to "supporting
those who help others", it is pretty cool to see how these people work and
I have a different view of the picture and my family tree, "thank you and have fun"!
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