Kate Ellingson, CDC Epidemiologist, highlights some important, grass roots efforts to prevent hospital acquired infections in her 3 part blog series in support of the World Health Organization’s May 5th call to action, “Save Lives: Clean Your Hands” campaign.
Part 1 focuses on the CDC’s efforts to increase hand hygiene awareness through it’s global “Save Lives: Clean Your Hands” campaign. Hand hygiene has been at the core of infection prevention for over 150 years. Yet in today’s demanding healthcare environment it is still a challenge getting healthcare professionals to adhere to hand hygiene guidelines.
In recent years there have been a number of technology-based strategies introduced to improve hand hygiene compliance. The CDC believes these strategies must work in parallel with the fundamental building blocks of hand hygiene improvement: education, grassroots promotion and leadership.
Read more of Part 1 - “Hand Hygiene: Back to Basics in Infection Prevention”
Author Archives: CleanHandsMatter
A recent study shows a drop in deadly VA Hospital infections
A recent study published in the New England Journal of Medicine shows the number of deadly infections in VA Hospitals has dropped. The study of 153 Veterans Affairs hospitals nationwide found a 62 percent drop in the rate of infections caused by MRSA in intensive care units over a 32-month period and a 45 percent drop in other hospital wards, like surgical and rehabilitation units.
The VA’s strategy employed a number of measures, including screening all patients for MRSA and requiring staff treating infected patients to wear gloves and take other contact precautions and encouraging rigorous hand washing.
“I think our study has shown that it is possible to make this large-scale change, even in a large system,” said Dr. Rajiv Jain, an official with the Veterans Health Administration and the study’s primary author. “If other hospitals were to follow our lead, I think it is possible to decrease these infections.”
SHEA 2011 annual conference emphasizes new strategies for fighting HAIs
Last week the 2011 annual meeting for the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) took place in Dallas, TX. The opening plenary session, “Innovative Public Policy to Prevent HAIs,” addressed the rapidly evolving approaches that are driving infection control which are beginning to move beyond mandates for public reporting of infections and pathogen-specific surveillance.
Joseph McCannon from CMS outlined how the agency is seeking to deepen its understanding of infection prevention and healthcare epidemiology in efforts to improve policies that (in many cases) drive hospital improvement efforts.
“I echo the sentiment of Don Berwick who said that ‘Making people afraid doesn’t make them able,’” McCannon said. This statement explains the ideology behind many of the seminars throughout the weekend. McCannon added that key considerations for [CMS] in the future include thoughtful creation of tension for change in order to build the will to fight HAIs.
In other words: How do we empower and enable healthcare professionals to fight HAIs?
Read Infection Control Today’s coverage of the SHEA highlights.
Hospital errors occur 10 times more than reported, study finds
A recent report published in the journal Health Affairs shows that hospitals and U.S. regulators fail to record at least 90 percent of patient injuries, infections and other safety issues. Voluntary reporting by hospital operators and the U.S.- sanctioned method for tracking adverse events failed to provide accurate insights into the safety of U.S. hospitals, the study found.
Read more about the study as reported by Bloomberg.
Is culture more important than strategy?
Most of us have experienced how important an organization’s culture can be in the morale and motivation of employees in the workplace. When the organizational culture is positive, employees are more likely to care about the organizational goals, and feel a stronger sense of connection and loyalty to the organization. According to an article by Dan Nielson, published by the National Institute for Healthcare Leadership, organizational culture has a greater impact than strategy on the achievement of organizational goals. Nielson asserts in the article that, “Whether we like it or not, a culture will evolve and significantly impact every organization or unit of people just as sure as the sun will rise in the morning and impact or world. It is unstoppable and inevitable! The only question is what kind of culture will evolve.” Regardless of whether the culture is positive or negative, the success of an organization will be influenced by its existing culture. Nielson goes on to state: “Excellent, supportive and highly successful cultures do not just happen. They are purposefully created, nurtured, and maintained.” He suggests that a positive organizational culture facilitates a sense of unity among staff, but is not something that can be achieved without intention.
Punishing healthcare workers for noncompliance is not as sustainable as rewarding them for washing their hands. Organizations should help create a culture that takes pride in patient safety and quality care delivery; a culture that recognizes healthcare workers must cooperatively participate in hand hygiene at every opportunity in order to protect their patients. By creating a culture that encourages hand washing, people feel a sense of individual responsibility in hand hygiene improvement to protect patients.
Dr. Atul Gawande emphasizes changing processes to create transformational healthcare
In going through some videos that we had flagged to review, we found the video of Atul Gawande’s keynote speech for the 2010 Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) Annual Conference. While he gave this speech a few months ago, his message is resonant and worth sharing!
He discusses the importance of changing processes and teamwork in efforts to improve quality of care. He calls on the example set in the field of modern warfare and the collaborative approach healthcare providers take to saving lives. He says, “successful delivery of health care…requires systems of care, assemblages of people and technologies. And among our most profound difficulties is making those systems work.”
Andalusia Regional Hospital named one of the Nation’s 100 Top Hospitals by Thomson Reuters
Congratulations to Andalusia Regional Hospital, who was named one of the nation’s 100 Top Hospitals® by Thomson Reuters, a leading provider of information and solutions to improve the cost and quality of healthcare.
The Thomson Reuters 100 Top Hospitals® study evaluates performance in 10 areas: mortality; medical complications; patient safety; average patient stay; expenses; profitability; patient satisfaction; adherence to clinical standards of care; post-discharge mortality; and readmission rates for acute myocardial infarction (heart attack), heart failure, and pneumonia. The study has been conducted annually since 1993. This is the third time Andalusia Regional Hospital has been recognized with this honor.
For more Andalusia Regional Hospital Named One of Nation’s 100 Top Hospitals
Hands of Anesthesia Providers May Be a Source of Operating Room Contamination
According to a recent study by Randy W. Loftus, MD, from Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon, New Hampshire, the contaminated hands of anesthesia providers are a significant source of patient contamination in the operating room. The study was published in the January 2011 issue of Anesthesia & Analgesia.
“As anesthesiologists, we like to think that the surgical drapes protect the patient from tens of trillions of microorganisms that are in and on our bodies,” said editor-in-chief of Anesthesia & Analgesia Steven L. Shafer, from Columbia University in New York, NY, in a news release. “Nope! These studies provide evidence that our bacterial flora contribute to surgical site infections.”
“Although we know that hand-washing is an important step, our compliance is poor, and there is little excuse for hospitals not implementing systems that facilitate compliance with hand-washing guidelines,” Dr. Shafer said. “However, as [this report suggests], it is time to look at additional measures to protect our patients from the biofilm that we take into the operating room every day.”
Read more about the results of Dr. Loftus’ study.
New antibiotic-resistant superbug spreading through America’s healthcare system
On March 25, health officials reported that an “antibiotic-resistent superbug” is spreading through Southern California healthcare facilities. The findings of the report will be presented at this year’s Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) on April 3rd in Dallas, TX.
This infection, nicknamed CRPK, is “brand new” and “the most dangerous superbug to-date. “Cipro, Zosyn and Penicillin, the most powerful antibiotics, are ineffective against this healthcare associated infection.
The CDC has been tracking it across 35 states since 2009. Dr. Richard Besser, ABC News chief health and medical editor, says that the real cause for the spread of these infections is the lack of handwashing by doctors and nurses as they administer care to various patients:
“Hands touching [other] hands is how superbugs are spread. They’re spread from patient to patient by doctors and nurses who have unclean hands. The doctors are the worst offenders. Theyre washing their hands less than half of the time going between patients,” he says. “Ask your doctors to use [the alcohol gel] and you could save a life!”
Read more about the CRPK superbug and its impact on our healthcare system.
Princeton Baptist Medical Center’s Installation of nGage Called ‘National Model’
On February 10, 2011, the Healthcare Information and Management Systems Society (HIMSS) announced six winning case studies for its Stories of Success! title. These winners were further broken down between two “Tier 1” and four “Tier 2” cases. A Proventix partner, Princeton Baptist Medical Center, was chosen from hundreds as one of the two “Tier 1” organizations. Princeton Baptist, with the help of Proventix’s nGage™ system, achieved a 22% reduction in healthcare associated infections (HAIs) which earned them the top Stories of Success! title. The Stories of Success! press release lists information about each of the recipients.
The Birmingham News followed up with HIMSS and featured Princeton Baptist Medical Center on the front page of their February 11th issue. David Collins, the HIMSS director of healthcare information systems, called the intervention and the results achieved with nGage a ‘national model.’ “This [story] really rose to the top,” he said of Princeton Baptist Medical Center’s partnership with Proventix. “It was really something others can learn from and possibly emulate for their hospital because it’s a simple thing but it’s effective.” To read the full Birmingham News article, click here.
While it is rewarding to see our story gain national recognition, what has been most rewarding is seeing the comments from readers on the Birmingham News article:
“Kudos to Princeton BMC and Proventix! Continued success to this Unit and all the others that will benefit from this most positive move in the right direction. As a survivor of a nosocomial staph infection that almost killed me and changed my life forever almost twenty years ago, I am a big supporter of any actions to cut down on hospital acquired infections. Many of the best inventions deal with simple concepts. Let’s wash our hands and then clap our hands!”
This morning, Proventix released our own statement regarding the HIMSS title. We are excited to see the story featured in a number of our favorite publications, including Infection Control TODAY and FierceHealthcare. We are encouraged by the recognition our partner has received, and we look forward to what the future holds!