Greetings,
Thank you for being a part of our online community! We are proud to have you as a subscriber and hope that Healthmarket Digest will continue to grow. If you have friends or colleagues that you believe would be interested in receiving Healthmarket Digest, please tell them to sign up at HealthmarketDigest.com. Thank You!
Healthmark
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| New Focus in the New Year and Beyond |
Has it really been 10 years since the Y2K madness? I remember sitting
around with friends and family in our basement waiting for the clock to
strike Midnight to see whether everything electronic would continue to function or
not. Remarkably, given the hype, everything kept on working without issue. As
we all know, news stories are often hyped to promote the sale of newspapers, the visits to web sites or ratings for broadcast media. While the coverage can be excessive and exaggerated, there often is a nugget of truth that
should not be ignored. The fact is, many electronics had been designed without
consideration of the change to a new millenium and steps to address these
issues had to be taken prior to January 1, 2000.
This past week we had stories related to MRSA and other
contaminants on environmental surfaces. We see these stories every day, not
just in the Healthcare media, but in the main stream media as well. It is easy
to tune these stories out when they are so frequent and alarmist. But
there is a nugget of truth that those of us in Healthcare must pay attention to
- inadequately cleaned and disinfected surfaces are a significant source of
HAI's. Tools are now available to check these surfaces for residual
contaminants and they should be used as part of a complete quality improvement
program.
From your friends at Healthmark, may you, your collegues and
your families have a Very Happy New Year!
Sincerely, Ralph J. Basile Vice President of Marketing
Healthmark Industries Company, Inc. |
| News Headlines |
Best Practices from SPD Experts...
READ FULL STORY...
In the Aftermath of 2008 CMS Rule, Hospitals Seek to Prevent Infections, Retain Reimbursement...
READ FULL STORY...
Disinfectants Promote Superbug Growth...
READ FULL STORY...
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| Tip of the Week |
Checking surfaces for residual soil with Procheck-II
Inadequately cleaned environmental surfaces are a key source
of hospital acquired infections (HAI). One of the challenges to improving
cleaning practices has been a lack of a feedback mechanism - a way to tell
whether a surface has been adequately cleaned. About the only method was the
expensive and time consuming practice of taking samples from a surfaces and
then culturing them out to see if there was any microbial growth. This process
could take 24 hours or more, and could also miss contamination that was not
cultured for. Recently, new tools have come on the market for testing surfaces.
This includes ATP (andenosine triphosphate) that involves swabbing a surface
and testing with a luminometer for the presence of this marker for cellular
life. This method is rapid and sensitive. It has one drawback, an expensive
reader that involves a capital expense. There are other tests which are
sensitive to protein and can provide a rapid colormetric result, without
utilizing a piece of equipment. Healthmark has a very sensitive version of this
test called the Procheck-II which can detect residual protein down to 1.0
microgram.
If you would like to test the surfaces you clean, click on
the coupon below to get a free sample of the ProCheck-II.
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| Thank You for Your Continued Interest! |
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Thank you very much for reading this 31st edition of Healthmarket Digest. We are very excited to have you as a member of our online community.
Sincerely,
Alex Kirk
Healthmark Industries Company, Inc.
Questions or comments?
or call (586) 774-7600
toll free: 800-521-6224
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