April is National Donate Life Month! Help save and heal lives – register your decision to be an organ, eye, and/or tissue donor at RegisterMe.org and share your decision with your family and community! 💙💚 #DonateLifeMonth (fb)

Today is International Infection Preventionist Day, but what does that mean here at Coffey Health System? It means vigilance and diligence. Here is how Linsey Knipp describes a typical day in her role as our Infection Prevention Nurse. “Each day, I monitor charts for antibiotic use, foley use, and culture reports and watch for signs and symptoms of infections improving or worsening. I monitor if a patient is an isolation precaution or not and if they should be. I stay up to date, as best I can, with current outbreaks, such as TB or measles, assessing our risk for exposure and putting in place risk mitigation steps to help prevent mass exposure should an infected person arrive at our facility. For measles, for instance, we assessed the risk as low but possible, so I placed signs at registration points asking patients to alert staff if they have had recent travel and are experiencing symptoms. I have sent out education to staff to remind them of the signs and symptoms of measles and what barriers should be used for safety. I coordinate with the environmental services team to ensure proper cleaning techniques are used to prevent the spread of germs. I assess hand hygiene amongst staff; after all, hand hygiene is the #1 way to prevent the spread of infection. I monitor what respiratory illness testing is being done to monitor the spread of infections within our community with careful attention to the severity of the illnesses and hospitalizations. I constantly survey the facilities for infection or safety risks." Linsey Knipp, R.N. Thank you, Linsey, for all you do!!! (fb)