Compass One Healthcare Launches White Paper Around Patient Safety and Infection Prevention

Paper outlines five healthcare safety pillars to prevent infection transmission and support a heightened focus on clean environments in patient settings

WAYNE, Pa.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Compass One Healthcare today announced the launch of its white paper, The Five Pillars of Safety in Healthcare: The Power of Clean, which details industry-leading strategic best practices and protocols to decrease Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs) and environmental contamination in hospital-settings. The white paper is particularly timely as it highlights the ways standard operating protocols should be enhanced and expanded during a pandemic like COVID-19.

“The white paper provides a unique perspective through our specialized expertise and decades of experience on issues impacting a patient’s care and experience,” said Rich Feczko, National Director of Standards, Innovation, and Global Support at Crothall Healthcare. “It also includes a pandemic-focused lens based on our learnings in this unprecedented environment over the last six months. We are excited to share our Pillars of best practices that were developed to further build innovative processes to ensure the safety of our patients and their families, caregivers, associates, and communities we serve across the country.”

To support healthcare providers in meeting HAI challenges more efficiently and to improve processes that maintain a safer and cleaner environment, Compass One has developed its Five Pillars of Clean:

1. Hand hygiene: The #1 way to prevent the spread of infection. The science of hand hygiene, correct gloving technique, and the importance of high-touch surface cleanliness must continually be taught to all associates.
2. Process: Includes three key components – People, Protocols, and Products – which all must be in place and working to the highest level to reduce HAIs and increase positive patient outcomes.
3. Surface measurement: Includes processes designed to support quantitative quality outcomes, performance trends as well as internal, regulatory and deeming authority compliance factors.
4. Augmentation: Automated UV-C hard surface disinfection systems, electrostatic application of a broad-spectrum disinfectant cleaners, and certified air purification and disinfection systems should be used to augment existing cleaning protocols.
5. Emerging solutions: Strategic partnerships provide access to cutting-edge technology. Significant resources should be allocated to pilot and study the results of emerging innovative technologies.

"We've worked with Compass One Healthcare for three years in offering VirtualMGR HealthClean, a turnkey solution for healthcare environmental service departments. The platform helps Compass One increase quality and compliance by monitoring and tracking cleaning and employee activity," says Tony Morocco, CEO of VirtualMGR. "The technology also ensures seamless coordination between hospitals and those in facilities management – a key component of Compass One's Process pillar – and serves as an example of the benefits of investing in emerging solutions. We are excited to see the platform become such a useful tool to help keep patients, staff, and the environment safe."

Approximately one in 31 hospitalized patients has at least one HAI while in the hospital, with an estimated 687,000 HAIs in acute care hospitals during 2015. This unfortunate reality, coupled with declining reimbursement for preventable infections, the rising costs of treating infections, and the potential threat of a second wave of COVID-19, makes it more important than ever to ensure that proper infection prevention measures are implemented top to bottom and incorporate every individual involved in the patient experience.

The report details case studies of the Five Pillars in action, including:

• Medstar Georgetown University Hospital in Washington, D.C., initiated adenosine triphosphate (ATP) testing, leading to a 98% passing rate and a decrease in MRSA bacteria and C. difficile observed cases, findings better than the national benchmark and directly linked to patient satisfaction.
• Saint Thomas Rutherford Hospital in Murfreesboro, Tenn. experienced 67 cases of C. difficile during 2015. An increase with ATP testing reading passing percentages resulted in better cleaning with the number of cases dropping dramatically to 17 by 2018.
• Enloe Medical Center in Chico, Calif. implemented the Surfacide technology to clean rooms at discharge and were able to reduce hospital-acquired C. difficile infection by as much as 52%.

The Power of Clean also looks at cleanliness from a patient’s perspective and addresses the many variables that impact pathogen transmission. All of these variables must be proactively and rigorously addressed to meet patient expectations of a safe hospital experience. The five pillars collectively address these concerns and ensure a safe environment for patients, employees, and anyone else who visits the hospital.

About Compass One Healthcare

Compass One is the union of two premier healthcare support service specialists – Morrison food and nutrition services and Crothall support services. Each of the 8 services offered by Compass One is a unique, specialized solution applying protocols learned in more than 2,138 locations through a combined 90 years of healthcare-only experience.