Best Practices in Care
Keeping You Up-to-Date on New Developments
Implementation of best clinical and infection prevention practices are provided in guidelines and standards published by government organizations, professional associations, and quality groups. The following lists current recommendations, guidelines, suggested approaches, and guiding principles
Guidelines & Standards
American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC)
- Competency in infection preventionView Site
A conceptual approach to guide current and future practice
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
- Guideline for Hand Hygiene in Health-Care SettingsView Site
Recommendations of the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee and the HICPAC/SHEA/APIC/IDSA Hand Hygiene Task Force
Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI)
- 2011 Medical Device Reprocessing SummitView Site
Access materials from the summit, where leaders met to identify, discuss, and formulate strategic initiatives and priorities to improve the safe reprocessing of reusable medical devices.
- ST41 and ST79 RegistryView Site
ANSI/AAMI ST41, Ethylene oxide sterilization in health care facilities: Safety and effectiveness. ANSI/AAMI ST79, Comprehensive guide to steam sterilization and sterility assurance in health care facilities.
Association of periOperative Registered Nurses (AORN)
- Perioperative Standards and Recommended Practices, 2011 EditionView Site
Contains the AORN approved standards, recommended practices, guidelines, and guidance statements. These comprehensive documents reflect the perioperative RN’s scope of professional responsibility and provide essential information for the delivery of safe patient care and a safe work environment.
- Guidelines for the location of automatic endoscope reprocessorsView Site
Determining whether the AER is located on the decontamination or the clean side of the SPD or the endoscopy suite reprocessing area will depend on the type of AER being used.
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC)
- On-Demand WebinarsView Site
Access the Webinar Library which provides the most comprehensive healthcare-associated infection reduction strategies, education and training available.
ASC Quality Collaboration
- Environmental Infection Prevention ToolkitView Site
Includes three essential resources: Environmental Infection Control — What CMS Surveyors Are Looking For, Environmental Cleaning Policy and Procedure Template, Spills Policy and Procedure Template
American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE)
CDC
- Guide to Infection Prevention for Outpatient Settings: Minimum Expectations for Safe CareView Site
This site provides a summary guide of infection prevention recommendations for outpatient (ambulatory care) settings.
- Guideline for Disinfection and Sterilization in Healthcare FacilitiesView Site
Presents evidence-based recommendations on the preferred methods for cleaning, disinfection and sterilization of patient-care medical devices and for cleaning and disinfecting the healthcare environment. This document supercedes the relevant sections contained in the 1985 Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Guideline for Handwashing and Environmental Control
- Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Health-Care Facilities.View Site
Recommendations of CDC and the Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC)
- Guideline for Prevention of Surgical Site InfectionView Site
Presents the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)’s recommendations for the prevention of surgical site infections (SSIs), formerly called surgical wound infections. This two-part guideline updates and replaces previous guidelines.
- Management of Multidrug-Resistant Organisms In Healthcare SettingsView Site
Preventing infections will reduce the burden of MDROs in healthcare settings. Prevention of antimicrobial resistance depends on appropriate clinical practices that should be incorporated into all routine patient care.
- Proper Sequence for Donning Personal Protective Equipment (PPE)View Site
Learn the correct order to put on and remove biological personal protective equipment (PPE).
- CDC and HICPAC Clarify Guidelines on "Environmental Fogging"View Site
2003 and 2008 recommendations do not apply to newer technologies involving fogging for room decontamination (e.g., ozone mists, vaporized hydrogen peroxide) that have become available since the 2003 and 2008 recommendations were made. These newer technologies were assessed by CDC and HICPAC in the 2011 Guideline for the Prevention and Control of Norovirus Gastroenteritis Outbreaks in Healthcare Settings.
Cleaning and Disinfection in Gastrointestinal Endoscopy
- British Society of Gastroenterology (BSG) Endoscopy CommitteeRead More
- ESGE and ESGENA Guideline Committee of the European Society of Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ESGE) and the European Society of Gastroenterology and Endoscopy Nurses and Associates (ESGENA)Read More
- Gastroenterological Society of AustraliaRead More
- Japanese Gastroenterological Endoscopy Technicians SocietyRead More
- Multi-society Guidline for Reproessing Flexible Gastrointestinal EndoscopesRead More
- Minnesota Department of HealthView Site
International Federation of Infection Control (IFIC)
- Surveillance of health care - associated infections around the worldView Site
Infection Prevention (UK)
- Infection Control Nurses Association (ICNA)View Site
Audit Tools for Monitoring Infection Control Guildeines within the Community Setting
- The Infection Prevention SocietyView Site
The Infection Prevention Society publishes guidance and standards for nurses and other practitioners working in infection prevention and control.
- National Institute for Health and Clinical ExcellenceView Site
Infection: prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections in primary and community care.
- NICE PathwaysView Site
Prevention and control of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs)
Joint Commission
- Measuring Hand Hygiene Adherence: Overcoming the ChallengesView Site
This monograph identifies promising, practical techniques for measuring adherence to hand hygiene guidelines. It provides a framework to help health care workers make necessary decisions about what, when, why, and how they will measure hand hygiene performance that will best fit their needs.
- Health Care-Associated Infections (HAI) PortalView Site
This website is a rich resource of information related to health care-associated infections that is available from The Joint Commission enterprise.
- Learning CommunityView Site
JCR's learning community is an online, interactive, educational forum for today's busy healthcare professionals who are concerned about quality and patient safety, but who also need to balance and meet the day-to-day demands of their jobs as care providers
- Improving Patient and Worker Safety: Opportunities for Synergy, Collaboration and InnovationView Site
This monograph is intended to stimulate greater awareness of the potential synergies between patient and worker health and safety activities.
- Improving America's HospitalsView Site
The Joint Commission's Annual Report on Quality and Safety
Johnson & Johnson Campaign for Nursing
Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
- Central Supply Module, Hospital eToolView Site
This interactive site provides safety and health tips on topics such as Glutaraldehyde and Bloodborne Pathogens processing
- Enforcement Procedures for the Occupational Exposure to Bloodborne PathogensView Site
This instruction establishes policies and provides clarification to ensure uniform inspection procedures are followed when conducting inspections to enforce the Occupational Exposure to Bloodborne Pathogens Standard.
- Personal Protective Equipment DirectivesView Site
Society of Gastroenterology and Associates Inc. (SGNA)
- Standards and Practice GuidelinesView Site
SGNA has compiled multiple standards and guidelines that address issues directly affecting the practice of gastroenterology nursing.
- Standards and Practice Guidelines Guideline for the Use of High Level Disinfectants and Sterilants for Reprocessing of Flexible Gastrointestinal Endoscopes (2011)View Site
- Statement on Reprocessing of Water Bottles Used During Endoscopy (2011)View Site
- Statement on Reprocessing of Endoscopic Accessories and Valves (2011)View Site
- Standard of Infection Control in Reprocessing of Flexible Gastrointestinal Endoscopes (2012)View Site
Urological Associations (UA)
US Department of Health and Human Services (DHHS)
- Hospital CompareView Site
Hospital Compare displays rates for Process of Care measures that show whether or not hospitals provide some of the care that is recommended for patients being treated for a heart attack, heart failure, pneumonia, asthma (children only) or patients having surgery.
- Partnering To HealView Site
Partnering To Heal is a computer-based, interactive learning tool for clinicians, health professional students, and patient advocates. The training highlights effective communication about infection control practices and what it means to help create a “culture of safety” in healthcare institutions. Trainees follow five main characters and make decisions about preventing HAIs.
- Prevention of Healthcare–Associated Infections: Revisiting the State of the ScienceView Site
Provides strategies to increase adherence to preventive interventions and/or reduce infection rates for central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI), ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), surgical site infections (SSI), and catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI)
- Patient Safety Tool: Infection Prevention Education for ASCsView Site
These training modules is designed to help prevent future outbreaks and educate clinicians on preventing HAIs in ambulatory surgery centers (ASC).