BD Launches "Power in Prevention" Program to Help Minimize Risk of Surgical Infections

BD (Becton, Dickinson and Company), a medical technology company, launched its quality improvement program, BD "Power in Prevention" to help minimize surgical infections this week at the Association of periOperative Registered Nurses ( AORN) annual conference in Boston.

The BD Power in Prevention program leverages critical insights from the company's Focus on Quality Care program, which has conducted more than 20,000 observations since its inauguration in 2012, at more than 800 facilities in the field of infection prevention. It builds on BD's history of minimizing the risks of infection to help standardize processes and promote high-quality outcomes for optimal patient care.

The new BD Power in Prevention uses a comprehensive quantitative process to identify potential risks for infections and provides evidence-based infection control strategies for specific areas of quality improvement in skin preparation, hair removal, surgical instrument care and handling, and hand-hygiene. Facilities that participated in the program saw tangible results – including a 50 percent increase in compliance to manufacturers' directions for skin prep and a 20 percent reduction in practice variability.

Cheryl Bennett, vascular OR project lead, Carilion Clinic, said the program gave “us the necessary tools and resources to have a formal quality improvement initiative at our clinic. We have been involved in many of these types of programs before but this is one of the few where we can see a difference in our nurses – they feel empowered to make a difference."