The AAAHC found that the level of deficiencies associated with the accreditor’s SIP Standard was significant (greater than 10 percent) in several of the health care settings which the AAAHC accredits.
Last year, the AAAHC Institute released a patient safety toolkit to help organizations comply with the AAAHC Standard and national guidelines. This year, the AAAHC launched a voluntary benchmarking study to measure compliance with specific aspects of national SIP guidelines.
The AAAHC Institute Safe Injection Practices (SIP) Study for January-June 2017 revealed a significant proportion of ambulatory health care organizations do not always meet national SIP guidelines. In response, the AAAHC is continuing to provide member organizations with educational resources to improve safe injection practices and compliance with national guidelines.
Despite guidelines from national and international organizations, safe injection practices remain a challenge for a number of health care providers. For the study, the AAAHC Institute collected self-reported responses from 110 AAAHC-accredited ambulatory organizations on a cross-section of their standard SIP activities to identify areas for quality improvement. The study results were broken down by type – ambulatory surgery center (ASC) and primary care – and shared with participants.
Safe injection practices (SIP) are the processes health care providers use to prevent the transmission of bloodborne viruses and other microbial pathogens to patients or the providers themselves when preparing and administering injectable medications. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), a safe injection does not harm the recipient, does not expose the provider to any avoidable risks and does not result in any waste that is dangerous for other people.
For information, visit www.aaahc.org/institute.