Safe injection practice guidelines remain challenging for AAAHC-accredited organizations — 3 study insights

The Accreditation Association for Ambulatory Health Care Institute conducted a benchmarking survey finding several ambulatory healthcare practices failed to meet national safe injection practice guidelines.

Here's what you should know:

1. The voluntary benchmarking survey was launched to gain an understanding of compliance with national SIP guidelines.

2. AAAHC collected self-reported responses from 110 AAAHC-accredited ambulatory organizations between January 2017 and June 2017. Ninety of those organizations were ASCs or office-based surgery organizations.

3. Concerning ASCs and office-based surgery organizations:

  • AAAHC found 59 percent of organizations conducted a SIP risk assessment within the last 12 months; 88 percent of those organizations conducted SIP training annually, with 9 percent conducting training at least two times a year.
  • 91 percent of ASCs had a written sharp injury prevention program in place, 77 percent used sharps with engineered injury prevention.
  • 84 percent of organizations performed some sort of proper hand hygiene before administering an injection.
  • 68 percent of ASCs stored medication for injections in a designated area away from patient care and away from any potential blood, bodily fluid or contaminated equipment contact.
  • When obtaining medication from a single-or multi-dose vial, 77 percent of organizations disinfected the rubber septum of the vial with 70 percent alcohol, as well as used both a new sterile needle and syringe.
  • 77 percent of single-dose medications and 62 percent of prefilled syringes were discarded properly.

AAAHC Institute Vice President and Senior Director Naomi Kuznets, PhD, said in a release, "Even the highest performing ambulatory organizations can benefit from ongoing assessment of SIP and other standard practices as policies and requirements evolve over time. The Institute's studies and AAAHC educational resources aim to assist organizations as they address disparities while ensuring patient safety."

More articles on accreditation:
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AAAHC accredits Saratoga Surgery Center — 3 insights
Crystal Surgery Center now AAAHC accredited — 3 insights

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