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Hospital infection Control Committee (CCIH)
CCIH – the Hospital infection control committee, (Comissão de Controle de Infecção Hospitalar in Portuguese) was created in 1972 by Fernando Paulino, well before being required by law. Our ethical commitment does not depend on legal aspects and frequently precedes the law. The institution currently adopts the procedures that are set forth in Administrative Ordinance 2.616/98 of the Ministry of Health that defines the actions directed to preventing and controlling hospital infections, training healthcare professionals and permanent surveillance of the actions related to patient assistance.
Hospital infections are those acquired after the patient is hospitalized and that are manifested during the hospitalization, but that can also be detected after discharge. The dissemination of the infections usually happens due to not adopting simple measures such as hand hygiene (washing with water and soap or jellified alcohol at 70%). Our focus is to constantly develop awareness and to be very strict regarding the efficacious measures that prevent and avoid the dissemination of any type of infection.
CCIH is made up of members who act as consultants: a representative of upper management, a general coordinator from nursing, a microbiologist and the head pharmacist. It is also made up of two executing members: a nurse and an infectious disease specialist; they are responsible for daily checking activities on the hospital infection control program and to supervise its execution.
The main attributions of CCIH include: microbiologic surveillance of infections, identifying training needs for each sector, preparing, implementing and supervising routines to prevent and control hospital infections, water and food microbiologic control, controlling sterilization methods used on hospital equipment and cleaning and disinfecting surfaces, standardizing tools, germicides and antimicrobials, investigating outbreaks, controlling pests and vectors, training healthcare professionals and assessing the care dispensed.
INTEGRATED AND UPDATED ACTIVITIES
The daily surveillance of the conditions that pose a risk for hospital infections directs the treatment of the teams involved in order to considerably minimize the problem. That is part of the routine of the CCIH at Clínica São Vicente, as well as the procedures to identify micro organisms and avoiding their dissemination.
Throughout the year, the CCIH organizes and holds seminars on the most relevant issues regarding hospitals practices, such as sanitization, material sterilization, disinfecting rooms, methods to prevent and control the main hospital infections and accidents with biologic materials and with sharp and cutting objects.
The infection control standards are periodically reviewed, in accordance with the most recent scientific studies in American and European literature, adapted to the Brazilian reality. Attending symposiums and congresses allows information to be exchanged and to update the measures adopted, to seek the excellence observed in the best hospitals of Brazil and abroad.
Our goal is to always be under 50% of what the international standards consider acceptable.
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