Thursday, March 29, 2007
Infection Prevention Influencing Product Evaluation
Infection Control Professionals are no strangers to evaluating products and services of interest to their facilities, particularly as influential members of the product evaluation committee or the value analysis team. In fact, sometimes their experience and expertise leads them to put the kibosh on a particular product or service that they determine would negatively affect patient care and safety or would not improve outcomes measurably. How much influence and control should ICPs have in this process, say, over doctors, nurses and materials managers? What do you think and why?
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I have seen a growing trend with hospital's adding Infection Control Managers to their Product Evaluation and Value Analysis teams and I do not disagree that they should be part of the membership. But, I think they should be members who actively participate just like any other member (mostly department heads and managers make up these teams) in the organization and when infection control issues and concerns arise then they would provide feedback. The thought of an infection control person only being on the team as a MONITOR is not necessary and if your product evaluation or VA team is truly performing a 360 degree type of analysis on a product or service, they should be addressing the infection risk factors as well. Plus they should be consulting with all the key stakeholders in your organization with infection control being one of them.
ReplyDeleteMy own personal consulting experience has been that infection control is open to new ideas on products and the protocols around them but you have to have valid proof and benchmarks (other similar comparable hospitals or government agencies) in order for them to accept questionable products or services.
You also have to remember that Infection Control staff are not product experts and they may require some training just like any other product evaluation or value analysis team member would need. If you are just meeting to "Go Save Money" you may have the kabash placed on your recommendations because you have not educated your team members on the information that Infection Control would require in order to approve your recommendations.
Bob Yokl, VP, Ops
Strategic Value Analysis in Healthcare