Fall Prevention Strategy, Medication Reconciliation and Infection Control
When you walk through Campbellford Memorial Hospital’s doors, you can expect that hospital personnel are doing all they can to ensure your safety. For example, every patient admitted to the hospital is assessed to determine if there are concerns that could result in patient harm, such as a risk of falls. In this case, specific fall prevention strategies are identified and posted at a patient’s bedside to make staff and family aware of any risk. An information sheet is provided to you and your family to assist you in taking steps to prevent falls in the hospital and at home. The hospital has also purchased Bed and Chair Alarms to prevent patients from falling and injuring themselves.
Hospital physicians and staff also use a medication reconciliation process. This prevents inadvertent omission of needed home medications, failure to restart home medications at discharge, duplicate drug therapy if more than one physician is ordering drugs for the same individual, and errors associated with incorrect doses of drugs.
To prevent and control the spread of infection, hand washing stations are installed at the entrance to the hospital, near elevators and in all patient care areas. Ongoing education is provided to staff, visitors and patients on the importance of this practice. Of particular importance is the control of antibiotic-resistant bacteria such as C. difficile, VRE and MRSA. These bacteria are of concern to health care providers as they are resistant to a large number of antibiotics commonly used to treat infections.
To prevent and control the spread of infections, Campbellford Memorial Hospital does the following:
- Test suspected patients with diarrhea for C. difficile toxin
- Place confirmed C. difficile toxin positive patients in single rooms or co-hort them and use Contact Precautions
- Provide ongoing education for staff, physicians and volunteers
- Provide enhanced cleaning of patient rooms and areas where C. difficile might be present
- Educate patients, families and visitors about proper hand washing