Baltimore, MD – Nursing homes that do not have sprinkler systems or hard-wired smoke detectors will have to install battery-operated ones in patient rooms and public areas according to an announcement made today by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS).
“This is an important rule that could save many lives by making real improvements in nursing home safety,” said CMS Administrator Mark B. McClellan, M.D., Ph.D. “Nursing home residents are an especially vulnerable population and we need to take every step possible to protect them.”
CMS took this unprecedented action after two tragic nursing home fires in Connecticut and Tennessee in 2003. Neither home had smoke detectors in the patient rooms where the fires originated. The agency worked closely with the National Fire Protection Association to develop ways to get effective fire protection into all facilities.
政府问责办公室（GAO）对这两起事件的审查断言，烟雾探测器可能会导致更快的员工反应，这可能导致了更好的结果。
This action is expected to considerably improve the safety of residents living in over 4,000 nursing homes that do not have sprinkler systems. Newly constructed nursing facilities are required to be fully covered by a sprinkler system, while older homes built of noncombustible materials like concrete block are not. Homes will be given a year in which to comply with the new requirement.
临时最终规则还包括一项规定，该规定将允许疗养院，医院，门诊外科手术中心和其他医疗保健设施在符合某些条件的出口走廊中安装基于酒精的手动消毒剂的分配器。以前不允许这样做，因为担心酒精摩擦可能会在发生火灾并进入出口的情况下作为加速剂。然而，关于这种关注的研究表明，如果满足某些条件，则大大减少了火灾危害，而在减少医院获得的感染中可能会有很大的好处。
Alcohol-based hand rubs are more effective at destroying bacteria than ordinary soaps and water. This is critically important in a health care setting. The Centers for Disease Control estimates that two million patients a year get hospital-based infections and that 90,000 of those patients die. Hospital-based infections can often be traced to a lack of hand washing by health care personnel with direct patient contact.
Some precautions facilities must take include making sure the dispensers are not near a heat or ignition source, that they are at least four feet apart and that they are placed in corridors at least six feet wide.
The full interim final rule was published in the March 25 Federal Register.
