extracted from every phase of the patient's care. Another prob-
lem was the siloing of cardiac patients' pre-op, perioperative and
post-op phases of care. The new electronic report allowed the
team to determine if "we were really doing what we said we were
doing" with SSI prevention, says Ms. Mahabee-Betts. "We discov-
ered a lot of gaps in nursing practices." In real time, the docu-
ment captures all the essential components and data points
needed for an SSI bundle. As a result, the total number of SSIs in
the cardiac unit at Temple decreased from 11 in 2017 to 5 in 2018
to 2 in 2019, and the cardiac unit's program has become a model
for the rest of the hospital.
• Team-wide approach. UPMC Pinnacle in
Harrisburg, Pa., has an ambitious goal —
zero SSIs — and bolstered it with a variety
of changes. Hand hygiene is now audited
monthly. "If someone is caught not wash-
ing their hands, we sometimes give the
person who caught them a $20 gift card,"
says Sandra Winston, MHA, MSN, RN, vice
president of surgical services.
Other SSI prevention initiatives at UPMC Pinnacle: A Surgical
Optimization Clinic for high-risk patients screens them for smok-
ing, obesity, diabetes and COPD; if there are risky conditions, let-
ters are sent to both the surgeon and PCP, asking them to consider
sending the patient to the clinic for optimization. To limit foot traffic
in the ORs, "do not enter" signs are placed on doors during surger-
ies. "Every single person has a responsibility to prevent SSIs," says
Ms. Winston. "Even one infection is too many." — Joe Paone
8 4 • O U T PA T I E N T S U R G E R Y M A G A Z I N E • S E P T E M B E R 2 0 1 9
• KEEP OUT! UPMC Pinnacle uses
signs on its OR doors to discourage
staffers from entering unnecessarily
during surgeries.
UPMC
Pinnacle