Long-Term Care Survey Alert
TAKE FIRE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS WITH ALCOHOL HAND RUBS
Those alcohol hand gels are a great infection control tool, but they might also prove to be a fire hazard if you keep them in hallways used as an exit route in case of a blaze.That's the warning sounded by Raymond Forsell, clinical engineer with the University of Vermont technical services program, based on fire studies he's conducted on some of the alcohol-based hand hygiene products. Forsell found that the products tested produced a lot of black smoke and a fair amount of fire. "So placing the products in egress corridors could increase the fuel load in case of a fire," he cautions. In Forsell's view, it'd be OK to place the dispensers containing the alcohol gel in a patient's room or a patient suite where staff can at least close the door and confine the fire to the room. Forsell notes that fire codes require facilities to maintain a minimal fuel load in the corridors in or der to provide a safe exit. "Facilities should, however, check with their local or state fire marshal's office for their interpretation of the fire codes," he tells Eli. In addition, the American Society for Health Care Engineering is conducting more definitive studies of the alcohol hand rubs so nursing homes can look at the outcomes of those studies, Forsell suggests.
Long-Term Care Survey Alert
- Survey Management:
PREEMPT TOP F TAGS WITH PATIENT SAFETY ROUNDS
If a surveyor asked you how safe residents are from accidents and clinical shortfalls, what [...] - Survey Management:
GUARD AGAINST THESE POTENTIAL SURVEY SCENARIOS UNDER HIPAA
Here's one of those million-dollar questions: Can surveyors cite your facility for HIPAA violations under [...] - Restorative Care:
THIS FORM OF ADL OVERCODING WILL DRIVE UP YOUR QI/QM SCORES
Some facilities unintentionally overcode activities of daily living on the MDS when nursing staff does [...] - Resident Privacy:
HOW TO NEGOTIATE CONFLICTS BETWEEN OBRA AND HIPAA
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OIG REPORT MAY SPELL SURVEY RELIEF FOR FACILITIES
It's official: The survey system shows an unacceptable " wide variation" among states in the proportion [...] - Survey Trends:
AHCA CITES SPECIFIC REASONS FOR SURVEY INCONSISTENCIES
The American Health Care Association has identified for the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [...] - READER QUESTION:
Survey civil monetary penalties
Q: How long should a per diem civil monetary penalty be allowed to run in [...] - Fire Safety:
TAKE FIRE SAFETY PRECAUTIONS WITH ALCOHOL HAND RUBS
Those alcohol hand gels are a great infection control tool, but they might also prove [...] - SURVEY & CLINICAL NEWS
CMS posts draft version of MDS 3.0. Check out the draft version of the MDS [...] - Quality of Care:
PERFORM THESE SAFETY CHECKS FROM YOUR DESK
You can actually perform some vital patient safety checks without ever leaving your computer or [...] - HIPAA Disclosure Worksheet
