May 2020 Newsletter                      Like us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter View our profile on LinkedIn View our videos on YouTube 
May brings with it a Celebration for Nursing and Hospitals.  There is so much to be thankful for when we see all that our healthcare colleagues are doing to manage COVID 19 and the thousands of patients and families affected.  Christopher Pratt has put our gratitude into words in his article Celebrating Nursing Week, as he discusses the last devastating pandemic, The Spanish Flu, which killed more than 50 Million People worldwide.  His personal account reflects the enormity of pandemics and how they affect us all now and for years to come.
 
We've also provided a timely article by Denise Smith on the needs and approaches for high level disinfection.  Denise has also developed a presentation for   Cleaning and Disinfecting Surgical Instruments that can be found on our Quality Academy.

Be safe & stay well.
 
Judy Courtemanche

Celebrating Nursing Week

It is timely that in the midst of a worldwide pandemic that has gripped our nation, we celebrate our nation's nursing professionals during Nursing Week (May 6-12). The normal accolades provided to our nursing professionals for their delivery of safe and effective patient care seem to fall short in the face of the current healthcare challenge that has so dramatically changed the playing field in healthcare delivery. How appropriate the theme of this year's celebration - Compassion, Expertise, Trust - speak to the strengths that our nation's nurses are bringing to the bedside with the depth of challenge and change in nursing practice.  
 
Almost 100 years ago, nursing faced a more sinister and deadly challenge, the Spanish Influenza Pandemic 1918-1919, where more than 50 million people worldwide perished. It was unlike any health crisis that the world had experienced in its time. It was especially catastrophic being on the heels of the first World War where the casualty numbers were a fraction compared with the pandemic. Nursing played a leading role in dealing with the pandemic as hospitals overflowed with victims. Read more . 
 
About the Author -

Christopher Pratt is an Associate Consultant with Courtemanche & Associates with more than 32 years in clinical and leadership experience working in varying healthcare positions. He retired in 2016 with over 29 years of distinguished service as a U.S. Navy Nurse Corps Officer. Clinically, he is a licensed Registered Nurse with extensive experience in critical care, medical-surgical services, ambulatory care, staff development, nursing administration and quality. Read more about Chris and our team. 
   
"Chris did an awesome job! It was nice to have someone with his experience and knowledge on the team. He also did an excellent job of helping my team members feel comfortable" 
Debra Huddleston, Fairview Park Hospital 

 
High Level Disinfection (HLD)

More than 45 years ago, Earle H. Spaulding developed an approach to disinfect and sterilize patient-care items and equipment. His approach has been successfully used by infection control professionals and others when planning methods for disinfection or sterilization. Spaulding believed that if instruments and devices for patient care were placed into different classifications according to the degree of risk for infection involved in use of the items, this would give guidance as to how to disinfect and sterilize them. Read more . 
 
About the Author -  

Denise Smith,  RN,MS,CLNC is an Associate Consultant with Courtemanche & Associates.  Denise has more than 40 years of experience and expertise in Infection Prevention, Sterile Processing, Legal Nurse Consulting, Quality and Resource Management, Clinical Education, and a variety of acute inpatient and outpatient care settings.Clinically, Denise is a licensed Registered Nurse with an extensive background in Infection Prevention and Control for perioperative settings, Sterile Processing and Quality Management. Read more about Denise and our team.  

FREE  Introductory Offer!*
 
The Quality Academy's new course, "Managing the Physical Environment During the COVID 19 World Crisis" raises awareness and offers considerations to organizations regarding how to best manage their environment of care amidst this pandemic.
 
Also, NEW to the Quality Academy; "Infection Prevention & Control" and "Cleaning & Disinfecting Surgical Instruments". We invite you to visit the Quality Academy for more information plus, peruse our abundance of course offerings designed to assist you with your Quality and Patient Safety needs.
 
*Free offer valid through May 15, 2020.  
 
 
 
 C_APPS Membership   
             
A unique program designed for leaders that provides access to useful tools over the course of one year to assist your team in improving survey outcomes and understanding regulatory requirements and expectations.   
 
Coming May 10th . . .   
Redefining Routine Operations  

 
 
 
 
 
Each month's package will contain a minimum of 3 documents that may include tracing tools, competencies, checklists for policies & procedures or  other useful items.   
 
The packets are designed to pertain to top problematic standards from both the available national and our internal data.  
 
 Previous offerings Include:
  • Restraint
  • Data & Quality Management
  • Preventing Surgical Site Infections
  • Personal Protective Equipment
Colleague feedback includes:
"Great tools - very user friendly and very useful"
"I like the fact that you provide the policy, tracer and competency for one focused topic" " ...The checklists are very helpful"
 
To order or for more information click here 
 
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