One hundred fifty years of infection prevention and control: still searching for the cure

Abstract

In this issue, Zimmerman and colleagues propose a "cure" for our seeming inability to deliver safer healthcare for patients. They suggest that the solution lies in engaging front-line healthcare workers to generate ideas for improving patient safety at the local level and empowering them to implement these ideas - front-line ownership. However, our current environment lacks performance measures and fails to hold individuals and teams accountable for their performance in improving patient safety. Healthcare leaders must commit to supporting front-line workers by providing performance measures and an accountability framework. Only then can we achieve authentic and sustainable front-line ownership.