Jayne Lee may have one of the best-known names in the FirstHealth of the Carolinas network.

As Moore Regional Hospital's director of infection control and patient safety, she comes in contact with every hospital department, as well as such off-campus services as home care, hospice, the dental care centers and others.

She also has corporate consulting responsibilities for the two other FirstHealth hospitals: Montgomery Memorial in Troy and Richmond Memorial in Rockingham.

"My job touches every piece of health care," she says. "Infection control and patient safety are important to everybody."

Gov. Mike Easley recently appointed Lee to the Advisory Commission on Hospital Infection Control and Disclosure, a legislatively mandated committee charged with preparing state agencies, hospitals and the public for the public disclosure of hospital-acquired infection incidence rates.

The group's interim report is due to be submitted to the General Assembly by May 1, and legislation requiring hospitals to report and publicly disclose hospital-acquired infection rates is expected to be enacted before the General Assembly adjourns in 2009.

One of two infection control practitioners on the Advisory Commission, Lee will work with infectious disease physicians, public representatives and the director of the Statewide Program for Infection Control and Epidemiology at the School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill to develop a plan for collecting, analyzing and disclosing information on hospital-acquired infections.

Also involved in county and state efforts on pandemic flu and bioterrorism preparedness, Lee joined Moore Regional 10 years ago as infection control coordinator and has since directed the hospital's quality, case management and patient safety programs. In her current role, she oversees all of the hospital's infection prevention and control activities as well as all patient safety activities -- including medication errors and fall prevention.

She also works with the hospital's Employee Health nurse to coordinate employee health/ infection control efforts.

A BSN graduate of Barton (formerly Atlantic Christian) College in Wilson, Lee has a master's degree in public health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Before coming to Moore Regional, she worked at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, Wilson Memorial Hospital and Wake Medical Center.

She is a certified infection control (CIC) practitioner.

Despite her work on a variety of current hot-button infection control and patient safety issues, including isolation precautions for the MRSA "super bug" and employee infection tracking, Lee is first and foremost FirstHealth's hand-washing guru.

"We're always working on improving hand hygiene compliance and helping people really understand how important it is to do before and after patient care," she says. "This is the most important thing our staff can do to prevent the spread of infections to themselves and others."