Who will you call? …Bug ​​killers!

Don’t you want it were that straightforward? You can simply pick up the phone and hire Bugbusters and they’re going to are available in and use their sci-fi equipment to rid your facility of all of the nasty “bugs” or organisms that cause Healthcare Associated Infections (HAIs). Unfortunately, it is not that straightforward; there isn’t a science fiction equipment that can magically rid an object of organisms. However, we have now made progress toward reducing the incidence of those infections using quite a lot of evidence-based best practices.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recently released a report titled: based on 2014 infection data from national acute care hospitals. This report revealed significant progress in reducing healthcare-associated infections:

• Between 2008 and 2014, the variety of central line-related bloodstream infections decreased by 50%.
• Catheter-related urinary tract infections showed no change overall, but progress was made in noninvasive care settings in 2009–2014 and in all settings in 2013–2014.
• Between 2008 and 2014, the variety of surgical site infections decreased by 17%.
• the variety of infections decreased by 8% between 2011 and 2014.
• Between 2011 and 2014, methicillin-resistant bacteremia (MRSA) decreased by 13%.

As you’ll be able to see, we have now made significant progress, but there remains to be plenty of work ahead of us. Each day, nearly one in 25 patients within the United States develops no less than one infection acquired during a stay in a health care facility. This demonstrates the necessity to improve infection control and prevention practices in healthcare facilities and other diverse settings.

So what can we do to eliminate these “bugs” and forestall HAIs in our healthcare facilities? For starters, research shows that when members of a multidisciplinary team are aware of infections and are available together to take steps to forestall them, infection rates might be reduced by greater than 70%. Developing a security culture that features teamwork, evidence-based infection prevention processes, and accountability for infection prevention is critical.

Make infections a reality for all members of the healthcare team, including environmental services staff, transportation staff, sterile processing staff, patients, visitors and volunteers; not only those directly involved in patient care. After all, everyone plays a task in stopping the spread of infection.
Share your stories… nothing hits home just like the story of a patient who was harmed by a preventable infection. For example, consider the story of an elderly patient admitted to a healthcare facility for knee substitute surgery. The surgical operation itself was successful, however the patient soon developed an infection of the surgical site attributable to MRSA. The patient spent months within the hospital on intravenous antibiotics, removal of a joint prosthesis, placement of a wheelchair, and ultimately amputation of the affected leg above the knee. The patient, the mother of a staff physician, ultimately died from complications related to an MRSA infection.

How could a seemingly uncomplicated surgery result in an infection that ultimately led to the patient’s death? Did it occur by the hands of a health care skilled who didn’t take the time to practice hand hygiene? A member of the operating room team who failed to keep up sterility during a procedure? An environmental services worker who improperly cleaned surfaces in a patient care area? A sterilization department worker who did not properly sterilize surgical instruments? A guest who didn’t perform hand hygiene before visiting a patient? The patient herself who didn’t maintain proper personal hygiene after surgery? Either of those scenarios could have resulted within the patient’s infection and subsequent death. When this story was told, it was hard to not feel responsible.

There are some ways that infection can spread in a healthcare setting. It is essential to make sure that everyone seems to be trained in infection prevention measures, using methods they understand. Start with the fundamentals… we have all heard it before hand hygiene is probably the most effective thing you’ll be able to do to forestall the spread of infection. Make sure everyone performs hand hygiene appropriately at any time when indicated.

Develop a culture of zero tolerance for infection and 0 tolerance for failure to follow appropriate infection prevention practices. Provide patients, family and other staff with the chance to report cases of failure to follow infection prevention practices. The only sure method to protect our patients from infection is to achieve zero.

What infection prevention practices have worked well in your facility? Have you done anything creative to interact staff, patients and visitors? something unconventional that you desire to to share with us?

Bibliography:

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2016). “Infections associated with national and public health care: a progress report” [Online]. Accessed April 2016 via the Internet at http://www.cdc.gov/HAI/pdfs/progress-report/hai-progress-report.pdf

Institute for Healthcare Improvement. (n.d.). “What Zero Looks Like: Eliminating Hospital Infections” [Online]. Accessed April 2016 via the Internet at http://www.ihi.org/resources/Pages/ImprovementStories/WhatZeroLooksLikeEliminatingHospitalAcquiredInfections.aspx

Yokoe, D.S. et al. (2014). SHEA/IDSA Practice Recommendation: Introduction to the Compendium of Strategies for the Prevention of Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals: 2014 Updates (5), 455-459.