Erin Marshall, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
CMS has started a 'dry run' test of its proposed star rating system for overall hospital-level quality.

Heather Punke, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
While the HCAHPS survey is useful to collect and evaluate information on patient experience among adult hospitalized patients, the healthcare industry had been lacking a similar tool to measure information on children's hospital experiences. Now, however, such a tool exists and was presented in a recent edition of the journal Pediatrics.

Shannon Barnet, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
Here are 10 recent stories published by Becker's Hospital Review on emergency preparedness, as well as studies and trends in the emergency department, beginning with the most recent.

Healthcare Facilities Today
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently launched STEADI - Stopping Elderly Accidents, Deaths & Injuries.

CleanLink
The Healthy Facilities Institute (HFI) Educational Center and Website has issued a Leadership Brief, Five Tips to Effectively Use a Stopwatch During Green Cleaning, to help cleaning professionals improve and standardize task times while green cleaning.

CleanLink
California regulators have been speeding up water-efficiency standards for faucets, toilets, and urinals in response to the state's fourth year of drought. The new regulations, which have been signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown go into effect January 2016.

Jamie Morgan, HFM magazine
Survey results show that energy and waste are the top two facility-related, cost-saving categories hospitals measure.

Jennifer Kovacs Silvis, Healthcare Design
I thought I had a reasonably good grasp on 3-D printing and the effects it may have on healthcare design.

Jamie Morgan, HFM magazine
Also this week: New CMS rule for long-term care facilities, OSHA updates TB screening instructions, study on PPE removal and FDA issues guidance on surgical gowns.

Infection Control Today
To fight a pathogen that’s highly resistant to antibiotics, first understand how it gets that way. Klebsiella pneumoniae strains that carry a particular enzyme are known for "their ability to survive any antibiotics you throw at them," says Corey Hudson of Sandia National Laboratories in California.

Infection Control Today
A special type of synthetic sugar could be the latest weapon in the fight against superbugs. A team of scientists from the University of Queensland and Queensland biotechnology company Alchemia have discovered a potential new class of antibiotics inspired by sugar molecules produced by bacteria.

Infection Control Today
On July 16, 2015, the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC) of China notified the World Health Organization (WHO) of five additional laboratory-confirmed cases of human infection with avian influenza A(H7N9) virus, including three deaths.

Infection Control Today
Clean Hands Safe Hands' award-winning hand hygiene monitoring system received a patent for its Natural Language Voice Reminder™ and its variable detection range technology.

Heather Punke, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology has released a free-to-download guide to hand hygiene programs.

Shannon Barnet, Becker’s Infection Control & Clinical Quality
New research from the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis suggests it may be possible to rein in the spread of "superbug" infections without having to develop new antibiotics.

Brian de Haaff, Huffington Post
Excellent leadership is like good health. Everyone wants to experience it. And if you are interested in reading about becoming a great leader you have 150,000 titles to choose from on Amazon -- take your pick. You can also take leadership courses, attend countless seminars, and earn an advanced degree to further your own chances.

Liz Ryan, Forbes
It is hard to unlearn the messages that we have heard repeated since we were children. One of them is "Business is a stiff and formal place. To be human and spontaneous is fun, but it isn’t professional!"

Travis Bradberry, Forbes
We’re all tempted to use words that we’re not too familiar with. If this were the only problem, I wouldn’t have much to write about. That’s because we’re cautious with words we’re unsure of and, thus, they don’t create much of an issue for us.

Wednesday, August 19
We all know just how challenging it can be to work cohesively with other departments. We sometimes look at these departments with disrespect and contempt. Many times the feelings are mutual. When this happens, it is important to know what to do to build bridges, strengthen relationships, and foster effective communication as well as collaboration.

Free for AHE members!

The new brochure includes tons of information on the new program, its benefits, the Train the Trainer Program, educational highlights, and eligibility requirements. To access and download the PDF, click ‘learn more’ below.

AHE has launched Express, a new mobile learning platform that offers educational podcasts delivered by environmental services and infection prevention thought leaders. You asked for a learning opportunities that required less of a time commitment and we delivered!

Current Express offerings include this three-part series, check it out:

The Infection Prevention to Environmental Services Experience
• Part I, Building Clinical Relationships
• Part II, Current Trends in Disinfectants
• Part III, Components of Effective Cleaning and Disinfection Programs