All Entries Tagged With: "HAI"
AORN and 3M team up for hand hygiene initiative
The latest initiative to be announced in the name of preventing healthcare-acquired infections (HAI) comes from the Association of PeriOperative Registered Nurses (AORN) and 3M. The two groups are partnering on the “It’s In Your Hands” campaign to bring to light the best hand hygiene practices for the according to AORN’s recently revised “Recommended Practices for Hand Hygiene in the Perioperative Setting.”
The campaign also seeks to involve nurses around the country by inviting them to share their creativity through a YouTube video contest. Nurses can enter videos via YouTube from December 1, 2009 through January 18, 2010. The short videos should address proper hand hygiene techniques for the operative setting that comply with the revised AORN practices, as well as address the topic from both an educational and fun standpoint.
During the week of February 1, the final three videos, as chosen by a panel of AORN Recommended Practices Committee members, will be displayed on the AORN Web site. Visitors to the Web site will be able to vote on their favorite video until February 22. The nurses behind the video voted to be number one will receive up to three free registrations to the AORN Annual Congress, paid for by a 3M grant. More information about the contest will be posted at www.aorn.org after December 1.
HHS awards $17 million to projects dedicated to preventing healthcare-associated infections
Last week the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) announced it awarded $17 million to specific projects in the name of fighting healthcare-associated infections (HAI). Of the total award, $8 million will specifically fund the national expansion of the Keystone Project, a program that successfully reduced the rate of central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) in Michigan hospitals within 18 months, saving 1,500 lives. The coordination of the program in all 50 states is being run through the American Hospital Association’s Health Research & Educational Trust. Last year, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality expanded the Keystone Project to 10 states.
The remaining $9 million will be spent on strategies to reduce other HAIs. In collaboration with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, HHS will fund projects that will investigate methods for:
- Reducing Clostridium difficile infections through a regional hospital collaborative.
- Reducing the overuse of antibiotics by primary care clinicians treating patients in ambulatory and long-term care settings.
- Evaluating two ways to eliminate MRSA in ICUs.
- Improving the measurement of the risk of infections after surgery.
- Identifying national-, regional- and state-level rates of HAIs that are acquired in the acute care setting.
- Reducing infections caused by Klebsiella pneumoniae Carbapenemase-producing organisms by applying recently developed recommendations from CDC’s Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee.
- Standardizing antibiotic use in long-term care settings (two projects).
- Implementing teamwork principles for frontline health care providers.
I see the Keystone Project as one of the major successes in recent years in the patient safety world. Not only does it reduce the chance for patient harm from an HAI, but it reduces the excessive amount of money that is spent on HAIs each year—a $6.5 billion expenditure. There are lots of patient safety standards out there, but this project has guided facilities in lowering CLABSI rates by using succinct steps with an emphasis on building a culture of safety and top-down leadership engagement.
Has your hospital become involved yet in this project?
AHRQ launches HAI information Web site
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality launched a Web page on Friday full of resources and information about preventing healthcare-acquired infections (HAI). The site pulls together tools and data from many different resources, including itself, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services, and Health and Human Services’ National Action Plan on HAIs. The site also contains links to other groups and resource material in which providers may be interested.
Public reporting of HAIs included in healtchare legislation
Debate continues surrounding the healthcare legislation that is currently being poured over by members of Congress, report the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal Health Blog. However, one part of the healthcare reform that has not been a sticking point, but is important in the world of patient safety, is the requirement of a national reporting system for healthcare-associated infections. The legislation, HR 3200, would require all hospitals and ambulatory surgery centers to report data concerning healthcare-associated infections to a database that already exists with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
A group of healthcare organizations sent a letter to Congress today, urging the adoption of HR3200. These groups include The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA), the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists (CSTE), and the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH).
The organizations hope that a national database of HAIs, run through the CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network, would help improve transparency, as well as reduce rates of HAIs, which claim 99,000 lives annually and run up a bill of $20 billion extra healthcare dollars. The groups noted above also want HR3200 amended to include language about antimicrobial resistant organisms.
New infection control product monitors hand hygiene
Performing hand hygiene adequately and often is something that many healthcare facilities are striving to do better. For the most part, those in charge of monitoring for compliance with hand hygiene protocols use direct observational methods, which is not always a reliable method. However, a new product being developed at the University of Florida may help hospitals better monitor which staff members pay attention to hygiene, reports this article from HealthLeaders Media.The product, called HyGreen, should provide some relief to those hospitals worried about losing out on Medicare reimbursement due to a healthcare-acquired infection.
The product works is as follows: Staff members each wear a badge that transmits a unique identifying signal every three seconds. When he or she sanitizes his or her hands, a sensor measures the alcohol on his or her hands and transmits a signal to that person’s badge denoting the sanitization. Then, the staff member has 60 to 90 seconds to move to another area, usually by a patient’s bed, where an overhead sensor scans his or her personal badge. The badge will tell the sensor that the staff member recently sanitized his or her hands and can interact with a patient, and if the allotted time window has passed or a caregiver forgets to wash his or her hands, the staff member’s personal badge will vibrate to remind him or her to perform hand hygiene. The data is also transmitted to a central database.
What do you think about this type of monitoring technology? Too intrusive? Necessary in today’s harsh regulatory world? Important for keeping patients safe?
AMA debates advising physicians to hang up their white coats
On the agenda for the American Medical Association’s (AMA) annual conference next week: whether physicians should continue to wear their typical white coats that travel from patient to patient all day long and have a large potential to carry infections, according to The Wall Street Journal’s Health Blog.
The alternative measure would be a “bare below the elbows” approach. Though there’s evidence that bacteria (such as MRSA and C. diff) are often found on the cuffs of coats, there is no proof that infection actually carries this way. Still, with all the other precautions hospitals generally take to prevent infections, the AMA is taking this one seriously. The British National Health System has already adopted a similar policy-theirs also banned jewelry.
Staff numbers, resources diminished to prevent infections, says APIC
The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) released a report today revealing that hospitals across the country are cutting funding for infection prevention programs, mostly as a result of the economic downturn. APIC conducted a survey of its members in March 2009, to which 2,000 people responded. 41% of respondents said infection prevention budgets had been cut within the past 18 months. Additionally, 40% reported having had layoffs or reduced hours, while 33% reported hiring freezes.
Although these trends reflect problems with the greater economic problems in the U.S. and the world, experts say these cuts to infection prevention programs is putting patients at risk. In the last year an increased amount of requirements have placed a larger burden on infection preventionists to collect more data and educate staff members throughout entire facilities about correct infection control practices. This is more difficult with reduced budgets and numbers of staff members. Less time is being spent on surveillance and monitoring of infections.
Has your facility experienced budget cuts that affect your infection prevention efforts? Have you had to cut corners that you ideally would not have?
C. difficile elimination tougher than previously thought
Tough news for infection control officers. A study presented at the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America Annual Scientific Meeting found that Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) is harder eliminate from hands and surfaces than previously believed, according to report by Medscape.
The study found that sticky C. difficile spores stick on hands, and that most hand-hygiene products (rubs and soaps included) do not get more than 90% of the spores off hands. Senior author Dale Gerding, MD, said the results prove the importance of using gloves when in contact with patients to protect against C. difficile when caring for a C. difficile-infected patient, and to pay attention to environmental cleaning.
AHRQ reports show quality improvement for hospitals, but existing disparities in minority care
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality yesterday released two reports that summarize many of the issues with which healthcare professionals and specifically those in quality improvement struggle.
The National Healthcare Quality Report for 2008 highlights strategic areas to measure whether the quality of care in the U.S. is getting better–or not. Although quality within hospitals improves annually by 3%–the most out of all care settings, some of the findings related to patient safety within hospitals are nothing short of a rude awakening:
- One in seven adult patients is the victim of at least one medical error
- Hospital compliance with the six core indicators in the report have declined about 1%
- 40% of all hospital-acquired infections are the result of catheter-associated urinary tract infections
You can find the full report here for futher details. The report details some suggestions for the future, such as standardizing patient safety measures and better collecting patient safety data.
The National Healthcare Disparities Report, also released yesterday, shows that disparities do indeed still exist as far as access to healthcare and quality of healthcare goes. For African Americans, Asians, Hispanics, Alaska natives/ American Indians, and poor people, 60% of quality measures either stayed the same or got worse. Some progress is being made, however, in reducing the occurrence of certain illnesses that disproportionately affect one minority.
WHO announces new hand hygiene campaign
Piggy backing off its “Clean Care is Safer” campaign launched in 2005, The World Health Organization (WHO) announced its latest initiative on May 5th. Titled “Save Lives: Clean Your Hands,” the initiative attempts to illustrate how deadly failing to use proper hand hygiene practices can be. Several events took place around the world on May 5th in honor of the initiative’s launch.
The WHO has also posted lots of tools on it’s Web site for those hospitals interested in the initiative, including case studies, videos, and a graphic display touting the “Five Moments for Hand Hygiene” that specifies the five most important times bedside caregivers can perform hand hygiene. They also offer advice on how to educate staff members, a method for gathering feedback on any hand hygiene initiatives started in a facility, and a sample action plan for those hospitals who need guidance.
The concept of cleaning our hands to prevent the spread of infection is not new, yet it’s something that is just not done enough in the healthcare setting. The WHO’s new spin might spur on some creative ideas within your own facility. Has your hospital signed up to be a a part of this new initiative? More than 4,500 hospitals worldwide have done so.
