Targeted Assessment for Prevention: A Statewide Collaborative

Reduction of Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) by 83% in a long-term acute care setting (LTAC)

An Interdisciplinary Team Decreases Hospital Acquired Infections in HCT Patients

National Trends in Healthcare-Associated Infections for Five Common Cardiovascular Conditions

Changes in health care-associated infection prevention practices in Japan: Results from 2 national surveys

Intentional Leadership Rounds: A Proactive Approach to CAUTI Reduction

Many patients in the intensive care unit (ICU) suffer from health care-associated infections. Age, immunosuppression, neutropenia, or multi-organ failure are preconditions, but health care-associated infections are largely related to the use of medical devices. Breaches of aseptic technique are the most important risk factor. Central line-associated bloodstream infections, ventilator-associated pneumonia, and catheter-associated urinary tract infections represent up to 75% of all health care-associated infections in the ICU. Ease of diagnosis and effective prevention strategies make the central line-associated bloodstream infection a model of how to diagnose, treat, and prevent health care-associated infections. Identification of ventilator-associated pneumonia is less straightforward and suffers from inconsistent definitions, making surveillance and benchmarking difficult. Catheter-associated urinary tract infection is underestimated in the ICU because clinical signs cannot be assessed in sedated patients. Antibiotic overuse in the ICU selects for multidrug-resistant micro-organisms and thus, broad-spectrum antibiotics must be used to offer empiric treatment of health care-associated infections. Accurate microbiology testing aiming at isolating causative micro-organisms is key to de-escalate antibiotic therapy. Health care-associated infections are preventable, many factors. Successful prevention programmes offer a comprehensive protocol, follow a multidisciplinary approach in preparation, and a multimodal training and education programme in implementation.

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic had a considerable impact on US healthcare systems, straining hospital resources, staff, and operations. However, a comprehensive assessment of the impact on healthcare associated infections (HAIs) across different hospitals with varying level of infectious disease (ID) physician expertise, resources, and infrastructure is lacking.MethodsThis retrospective longitudinal multi-center cohort study included central-line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), C. difficile infections (CDIs), and ventilator-associated events (VAEs) from 53 hospitals (academic and community) in Southeastern United States from January 1, 2018 to March 31, 2021. Segmented negative binomial regression generalized estimating equations models estimated changes in monthly incidence rates in the baseline (01/2018 – 02/2020) compared to the pandemic period (03/2020 – 03/2021, further divided into three pandemic phases).ResultsCLABSIs and VAEs increased by 24% and 34% respectively during the pandemic period. VAEs increased in all phases of the pandemic, while CLABSIs increased in later phases of the pandemic. CDI trend increased by 4.2% per month in the pandemic period. On stratifying the analysis by hospital characteristics, the impact of the pandemic on healthcare-associated infections was more significant in smaller sized and community hospitals. CAUTIs did not change significantly during the pandemic across all hospital types.ConclusionsCLABSIs, VAEs, and CDIs increased significantly during the pandemic, especially in smaller community hospitals, most of which lack ID physician expertise. Future efforts should focus on better understanding challenges faced by community hospitals, strengthening infection prevention infrastructure, and expanding the ID workforce, particularly to community hospitals.

Association between infection prevention and control staffing levels and healthcare-associated infection prevalence: results from the 2022 Belgian European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control point prevalence survey.

Device-related healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), such as catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) and central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), are largely preventable. Patients have the potential to contribute to HAI prevention when they are educated about their risks and actions they can take to mitigate those risks. However, there is little evidence regarding what patient education is needed to engage patients in the prevention of these infections. This study examined perspectives of hospital leaders, managers, and frontline staff about the use of patient education to support CAUTI and CLABSI prevention efforts. The Engagement Capacity Framework (ECF) was used to understand how our findings about patient education may impact patient engagement in infection prevention. Interviews with 471 key informants were conducted across 18 hospitals. Participants identified patient education topics specific to the prevention of CAUTIs and CLABSIs, as well as patient education challenges and opportunities for improvement. Based on these education topics, aspects of the four ECF dimensions–patient resources, self-efficacy, willingness, and capabilities–necessary to engage in infection prevention were identified, which informed suggested roles for managers to support patient engagement through patient education. These educational topics and suggestions for managers can help guide successful strategies to engage patients in infection prevention.

Healthcare Infections Associated with Care and Treatment of Humans and Animals

Gaps in infection prevention practices for catheter-associated urinary tract infections and central line-associated bloodstream infections as identified by the Targeted Assessment for Prevention Strategy

Evaluation of contact precautions for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus

Evaluation of depression in home carers using SDS-comparison with outpatients

Ambulatory healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) occur frequently in children and are associated with morbidity. Less is known about ambulatory HAI costs. This study estimated additional costs associated with pediatric ambulatory central-line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), and surgical site infections (SSIs) following ambulatory surgery. Retrospective case-control study. Four academic medical centers. Children aged 0-22 years seen between 2010 and 2015 and at risk for HAI as identified by electronic queries. Chart review adjudicated HAIs. Charges were obtained for patients with HAIs and matched controls 30 days before HAI, on the day of, and 30 days after HAI. Charges were converted to costs and 2015 USD. Mixed-effects linear regression was used to estimate the difference-in-differences of HAI case versus control costs in 2 models: unrecorded charge values considered missing and a sensitivity analysis with unrecorded charge considered $0. Our search identified 177 patients with ambulatory CLABSIs, 53 with ambulatory CAUTIs, and 26 with SSIs following ambulatory surgery who were matched with 382, 110, and 75 controls, respectively. Additional cost associated with an ambulatory CLABSI was $5,684 (95% confidence interval [CI], $1,005-$10,362) and $6,502 (95% CI, $2,261-$10,744) in the 2 models; cost associated with a CAUTI was $6,660 (95% CI, $1,055, $12,145) and $2,661 (95% CI, -$431 to $5,753); cost associated with an SSI following ambulatory surgery at 1 institution only was $6,370 (95% CI, $4,022-$8,719). Ambulatory HAI in pediatric patients are associated with significant additional costs. Further work is needed to reduce ambulatory HAIs.

ObjectiveTo provide evidence of the cost savings of a quality improvement (QI) initiative preventing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) in critical care settings.DesignA micro-costing study focused on financial data related to a...