Reducing Hospital-Acquired Infections

Nationally renowned patient safety expert Dr. Richard Shannon from the University of Pennsylvania, galvanized the crowd at PEI's Improving Patient Safety and Reducing Infections through Effective Teamwork and Communication conference with his frank assessment, “The only number that matters [regarding hospital-acquired infections] is ZERO.” Dr. Shannon stressed that all members of the healthcare team, from nurses and physicians to ward clerks and housekeepers, need to be involved in improving patient safety because all have valuable contributions to make to that effort. In keeping with that belief, conference organizers invited representative members of an inpatient unit (medical or surgical) from each HHC hospital to attend, along with those hospitals’ administrative staff, e.g. the chief operating officer, medical and nursing directors, and patient safety officer.