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Creating a meaningful infection control program: one home healthcare agency's lessons
Renee McCoy Poff1, Sarah Via Browning
1Renee McCoy Poff, MSN, RN-COSC, is a Performance Improvement Supervisor, Carilion Clinic Home Care, Carilion Clinic Hospice, Roanoke, Virginia. Sarah Via Browning, DNP, RN-BC, is Director, Systems Operations and Support, Carilion Clinic Home Care, Carilion Clinic Hospice, Roanoke, Virginia.
Abstract:
Creating a meaningful infection control program in the home care setting proved to be challenging for agency leaders of one hospital-based home healthcare agency. Challenges arose when agency leaders provided infection control (IC) data to the hospital's IC Committee. The IC Section Chief asked for national benchmark comparisons to align home healthcare reporting to that of the hospital level. At that point, it was evident that the home healthcare IC program lacked definition and structure. The purpose of this article is to share how one agency built a meaningful IC program.
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