​​​​The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has rolled out a new toolkit for hospital surgical units aimed at preventing surgical site infections. Based on the experiences of frontline care providers in about 200 hospitals nationwide and their successes in preventing such infections, the toolkit contains two guides with supplementary materials and 15 instructional modules. The toolkit's guides address the two key aspects AHRQ identified as being essential to success in combating surgical site infections: technical work and adaptive work. Technical work, or the procedural evidence-based clinical aspects of care such as a checklist outlining the steps toward surgical skin preparation, is vital to quality care. Adaptive work, which involves changes in the attitudes, values, and beliefs of providers, creates a culture that can sustain the long-term success of technical work. Adaptive work also includes the creation of a culture in which staff feel supported in creating solutions that work specifically for their organization. According to AHRQ, hospitals that participated in the development program for this toolkit reported a relative reduction of 25% to 40% in surgical site infections. The 15 instructional modules address training in both adaptive and technical work, implementation, and the necessary steps toward sustainability. Onboarding includes involving more than just frontline staff; getting senior executives invested in patient safety is a necessary step toward long-term success. In each of the 15 instructional modules, pre-prepared PowerPoint slides are available, along with facilitator notes to guide presenters. This toolkit adds to AHRQ's already wide-ranging Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) and the core CUSP toolkit, which provides training tools aimed at making care safer in a wide range of clinical settings.

HRC Recommends: Risk managers should share the AHRQ toolkit with relevant individuals and departments. Surgical staff, operating department managers, risk managers, infection preventionists, and environmental services professionals should work together to evaluate organizational policies and procedures and implement use of the toolkit as needed.