Discussion: Reducing Hospital-Acquired Infections
Assume you are recently hired as the department manager for the surgical unit at a 300-bed acute care hospital. There has been an ongoing problem with hospital-acquired infections in the surgical unit. The hospital does not get paid for treating these infections and it is extremely costly. As a result, the prior manager was terminated. Describe your approach from both an operations and quality perspective in addressing the problem. What would you do first? What tactics would you use? Who would you get involved? Develop critical thinking around the urgent problem.
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