St. John’s Mercy
recognizes how important infection control is to ensuring our patients have
exceptional treatment outcomes. To reduce the risk of health care acquired
infections, St. John’s Mercy utilizes a comprehensive approach to infection
prevention and treatment. Please
select from the links below to learn more about infection control at
St. John’s Mercy:
Infection Control Practices
and Programs
St. John’s Mercy is proud to have effective infection control practices and
programs in place to ensure high quality care and patient safety.
- Co-worker Training – St. John’s Mercy provides comprehensive co-worker training
in infection control upon hire and throughout the co-worker’s patient care
service. In addition, this ongoing training is reinforced with an annual mandatory
training program that includes computer-based training and online testing.
- Hand Hygiene
Awareness and Monitoring – In October 2005, St. John’s Mercy
launched a hand-hygiene awareness campaign titled: “Good Hygiene is Simply
in Your Hands.” The campaign included a lobby display, posters, flyers,
laminated flyers for wash areas and a co-worker quiz, all designed to
reinforce the importance of hand hygiene in preventing the spread of
disease. In addition, the Infection Control department conducts both
stealth and non-stealth monitoring of hand hygiene practices and maintains
reports of its findings.
- Preventative
Protocols for Central Line/Peripheral Line Infections and Ventilator-Associated
Pneumonias – St. John’s Mercy Medical Center practices CDC-recommended
protocols for preventing central line/peripheral infections and ventilator-associated
pneumonias.
- Co-worker Vaccinations
and Annual Testing – Co-workers who provide patient
care receive annual vaccinations and are tested annually for exposure to infectious
diseases.
- Patient and Family
Education on Resistant Organisms and Other Infectious Diseases – St. John’s Mercy provides
one-on-one training as well as patient
education materials to educate our patients on resistant organisms and other
infectious diseases. Patient education is provided during hospitalization and
prior to discharge.
Performance Measures
- National Nosocomial
Infections Surveillance System (NNIS) Data – St. John’s
Mercy Medical Center uses the NNIS system for infection control benchmarking.
The NNIS was established in 1970 when selected hospitals in the United
States began routinely reporting their hospital-acquired infection data
for aggregation
into a national database.
• Surgical Site
Infection Prevention Data – please refer to the Quality
Measures page.
