Sponsored by:
Available: On Demand
Length: 60 minutes
Continuing Education: FREE. All registrants will receive notification and directions to earn contact hours when the Webinar receives approval.
Description:
Surgical site infection (SSI) is an enormous problem. According to the CDC, 38% of all nosocomial infections in surgical patients are SSIs and an estimated 2.6% of nearly 30 million operations each year are complicated by SSI’s. SSIs also have an indirect effect. Each infection increases the hospital length of stay by an average of 7 days, adding over $3,000 in charges.
In this Webinar, leaders of the project to reduce SSIs at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center and Mohawk Valley Heart Institute, Utica, NY, will discuss the impact of SSIs and interventions which reduced their cardiothoracic SSI rate from an average of 4.6% in 2004 to 0% in 2006. The reduction in SSIs was a tremendous benefit to the patients and resulted in over $250,000.
Objectives
- Discuss the impact of surgical site infections (SSIs)
- Describe the project to reduce SSIs at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center and the Mohawk Valley Heart Institute
- Identify clinical and financial outcomes related to reduced SSIs
Speakers:
Lorraine Circelli, RN, ASN,
is the Manager of the Cardiothoracic Operating Room (CTOR) at Mohawk Valley Heart Institute and of the Sterile Processing Department (SPD) at St. Elizabeth Medical Center in Utica, New York. She has held this position for nearly five years. Previously she was the nurse manager of the general operating room at the 200-bed acute care facility for six years. She has been a member of the Association for Perioperative Nurses for many years as well as a member of the Mohawk Valley Chapter of AORN. Her role as manager of CTOR and SPD has given her the opportunity see how advantageous it is for the two departments to work together as a team to provide quality services to patients. She has been a part of a multi-disciplinary quality improvement team which helped reduce SSIs in the cardiothoracic patients.
Linda Kokoszki, RN, BSN, CIC,
is the Infection Control and Bioterrorism Coordinator at St. Elizabeth Medical Center, a position she has held for seven years. She is a graduate of St. Elizabeth School of Nursing in Lincoln, Nebraska and earned her bachelor’s of science in nursing at SUNY Utica/Rome. She is certified in infection control through the Association of Professionals in Infection Control and is a member of that organization. She is past president and current vice president of the Mohawk Valley Infection Control Association. Her work experience crosses the healthcare continuum from labor and delivery to long-term care. She has been an officer in the US Air Force Nurse Corps. She is a member of the New York State Department of Health Technical Advisory Group for public reporting of healthcare-acquired infections.
James H. Monahan RN, EMT-P,
is the Nurse Manager for the Cardiothoracic Intensive Care Unit and Progressive Care Unit at the Mohawk Valley Heart Institute (MVHI) at St. Elizabeth Medical Center, a position he has held for eight years. The MVHI is a collaborative effort of the two local hospitals to bring cardiac services to the community. He is a graduate of St. Elizabeth School of Nursing in Utica, New York and is presently pursuing his bachelor’s of science in nursing at SUNYIT Utica/Rome. He is also a member of the American Association of Critical Care Nurses (AACN). His work experience in the healthcare has always been in critical care areas from staff RN, charge nurse to nurse manager. He is also a Lieutenant/ Paramedic in the New Hartford Volunteer Fire Department for the past 18 years. He has implemented many initiatives at St. Elizabeth’s Medical Center on different teams with successful results including creation of the Progressive Care which is a dedicated unit for the cardiac surgery program pre and post op patients, reducing the occurrence of hospital acquired infections, reducing the length of stay in the cardiac surgery program.
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