Project JOINTS Exemplar Hospital Application

Portage Health – Hancock, Michigan

Number of licensed beds: 36

Non-Teaching

Rural

Exemplar Hospital Contact Name: Kathy Manderfield - Unit Manager of Perioperative Services

Email:

Phone: 906-483-1335

We give permission to IHI to make public all the information on this Project JOINTS Exemplar Hospital application.

Enhanced Surgical Site Infections Prevention Bundle element (identify one per sheet): Use of an alcohol-containing antiseptic agent for preoperative skin preparation

1. When we joined Project JOINTS, we were already using Chloraprep as our primary pre-op skin preparation in the OR.

2. Our surgeons were 100% on board for the change from Betadine to Chloraprep (unless contraindicated) as our primary skin prep. All of our surgeons are employed by the hospital, so we made the change institution wide to include ED, clinic and any other service that was currently using betadine.

3. We began by educating the nursing staff in the clinics, Perioperative Services and Managers of the ED, IPU and OB. Because of our small size, it was decided to make the change for all patients at the same time. Go live with our new prep began in May of 2010

4. Prior to the education of the nurses, we had taken our concerns about our current prep to the Surgery Section Committee and Infection Prevention Committee. Both were unanimous in their support for the use of Chloraprep

In a few sentences, describe in what ways your hospital has been successful in implementing this element of the Enhanced Surgical Bundle. Please answer the following questions:

What key changes did your organization make to incorporate or support use of an alcohol-containing antiseptic agent for preoperative skin preparation? What were the changes in existing processes your organization had to make in order for this to become part of the routine?

1. We had 100 % support from both the Surgery Section committee and the Infection Prevention Committee. We now use Chloraprep as the primary skin prep hospital wide. Again, the most important and basic element was the education of the nursing staff as to why Chloraprep is superior to Betadine through evidence based learning.

How did you roll out this practice? Did you test it with one patient, a few, or all to start?

Because of our small size, we decided to roll it out for all patients at the same time. We began using Chloraprep house wide in May 2010. We report post-op infections to both our Surgery Section Committee and our Infection Prevention Committee.

What lessons have you learned as you've implemented this practice? What tips do you have to share?

The surgeons will be much more receptive to new ideas and practices if there is a track record of evidence based medicine.

Indicate which statement best summarizes your organization’s level of implementation of this Enhanced Surgical Bundle element:

[ X] This practice is used for 100% of hip/knee arthroplasty cases.

[ ] We have a well-tested protocol and use it for some hip/knee arthroplasty cases.