3M Infection Prevention and RL Solutions Provide Real-Time Infection Rate and Cost Data Associated With Healthcare-Acquired Infections

3M Infection Prevention and RL Solutions announced a joint feasibility program to provide healthcare facilities data on the rate of hospital acquired infections in real-time and the costs associated with those infections. This collaborative effort brings together RL Solutions' leading infection surveillance system, RL6:Infection, with the 3M(TM) HAI Cost Analysis Report, which gives hospitals and healthcare facilities the ability to track the cost of healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs).

3M HAI Cost Analysis Report combines software and services -- merging infection information and administrative (coded) systems -- to highlight the financial ramifications of HAIs, while giving hospitals the ability to develop business cases to support infection prevention initiatives.

The program fits into 3M Infection Prevention's mission of developing solutions to minimize the risk of HAIs, which, according to the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report, are the most common complications of hospital care and one of the top 10 leading causes of death in the United States. By consistently gathering important metrics through the dual emphasis on data and cost associated with HAIs throughout the hospital, the new solution allows infection preventionists to apply the same degree of rigor to every aspect of infection control facility-wide.

To read full article please visit Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare

NY Times- New Study on Hospital Acquired Infections at Veterans Hospitals

By Kevin Sacks

An aggressive four-year effort to reduce the spread of deadly bacterial infections at veterans’ is showing impressive results and may have broad implications at medical centers across the country, according to the first comprehensive assessment of the program.

The study of 153 Veterans Affairs hospitals nationwide found a 62 percent drop in the rate of infections caused by methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, in intensive care units over a 32-month period. There was a 45 percent drop in MRSA prevalence in other hospital wards, like surgical and rehabilitation units.

The Veterans Affairs strategy employs a “bundle” of measures that include screening all patients with nasal swabs, isolating those who test positive for MRSA, requiring that staff treating those patients wear gloves and gowns and take other contact precautions and encouraging rigorous hand washing. The results may not be easily replicated in the private sector, but they are likely to step up pressure by further undercutting the notion, prevalent at many hospitals not long ago, that infections are an unavoidable cost of doing business.

To read full article please visit  http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/14/health/14infections.html?_r=1

For more information on how hospitals are reducing HAI please read more content at Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare

Hospira Enhanced TheraDoc System Can Help Improve Patient Safety

Hospira announced the launch of its enhanced TheraDoc™ clinical surveillance system, used by hospitals to  improve patient safety and prevent adverse events such as healthcare-associated infections. The enhanced TheraDoc system includes new features and functionalities designed to improve user satisfaction, reporting capabilities and work efficiency.Patient safety issues such as HAIs, adverse drug events and antimicrobial resistant infections have been linked to increased morbidity and mortality, and also can have an large financial impact.

The TheraDoc platform enhancements are designed to help hospitals meet and improve upon evolving quality metrics and national patient safety goals. The new platform also helps clinicians more easily identify antimicrobial resistant pathogens and drug-bug mismatches. Improvements to the TheraDoc Infection Control Assistant™module facilitate seamless electronic reporting of HAIs to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) and provide a new infection control dashboard for enhanced reporting, data comparison and benchmarking.

"The enhanced TheraDoc platform has added even more valuable tools available to our infection prevention team at Kootenai Health," said Lee Rieken R.N., C.I.C., infection prevention unit supervisor, Kootenai Health in Idaho. "The TheraDoc team continues to reach out to its customers and listen to their needs. As increasing demands are placed on the infection preventionist, the tools afforded them are increasing as well. I appreciate the dashboard within the new TheraDoc platform, because it is quite intuitive to use and helps us benchmark against NHSN."Stanley Pestotnik, M.S., R.Ph., general manager, TheraDoc, Hospira, said, "The enhanced TheraDoc system reflects Hospira's commitment to delivering innovative patient safety surveillance and clinical-decision support solutions."


The TheraDoc clinical surveillance platform is being demonstrated at Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) booth #107 through April 4. For more information about TheraDoc, visit http://www.theradoc.com or call (801) 415-4400.

About Hospira
Hospira, Inc., is a global specialty pharmaceutical and medication delivery company dedicated to Advancing Wellness™.  As the world leader in specialty generic injectable pharmaceuticals, Hospira offers one of the broadest portfolios of generic acute-care and oncology injectables, as well as integrated infusion therapy and medication management solutions. Through its products, Hospira helps improve the safety, cost, and productivity of patient care. The company is headquartered in Lake Forest, Ill., and has approximately 14,000 employees.  Learn more at http://www.hospira.com.Hospira

CDC Awards 2 Million Dollar Grant To Help Prevent Healthcare Associated Infections

The CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) is awarding a $ 2 million dollar grant to researchers at the Cook County Health & Hospitals System and Rush University Medical Center  to continue a successful program aimed at preventing healthcare-associated infections, antibiotic resistance, and other adverse events associated with healthcare. The Chicago Antimicrobial Resistance and Infection Prevention Epicenter (CARPE), is one of only five CDC Prevention Epicenters in the country.

Rush and Cook County were chosen  because the two institutions have a long standing collaboration and legacy of research innovation in antimicrobial resistance and infection prevention by internationally known infectious disease experts.

The CDC estimates that one out of 20 hospitalized patients will acquire an infection while receiving health care treatment for other conditions. Healthcare-associated infections cause significant death and illness among patients treated in U.S. healthcare institutions and add billions of dollars to healthcare costs. With the emergence of drug-resistant infections and new pathogens in health care settings, new strategies to detect and reduce health care-associated infections become even more critical.

To read the full article please visit:
http://www.infectioncontroltoday.com/news/2011/03/cdc-cook-county-and-rush-collaborate-to-research-and-prevent-hais.aspx

The Solutions for Patient Safety initiative Improves Healthcare In Ohio

As reported on Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare Website

A collaborative effort among  healthcare providers and leaders to make the state of Ohio, one of the safest places in the country for healthcare has led to more than $12.8 million in healthcare savings. This effort has also led to more than nine hundred fewer patient days spent in the hospital and nearly 3,600 fewer adverse drug events and infections in children.

This effort is called, The Solutions for Patient Safety initiative.The goal of the partnership is to improve quality and reduce costs of healthcare statewide. It was launched in January 2009 and funded with a $1.5 million investment from the Cardinal Health Foundation. In addition this partnership includes the Ohio Business Roundtable, the Central Ohio Hospital Council, the Ohio Hospital Association, the Ohio Children’s Hospital Association and twenty five hospitals throughout the state.

“Cardinal Health is proud to be a founding sponsor and ongoing partner in this groundbreaking initiative that has and will continue to save lives – not only throughout Ohio, but across the nation,” said George S. Barrett, chairman and CEO, Cardinal Health. “The impressive results of the Solutions for Patient Safety initiative prove that true collaboration among healthcare leaders and clinicians can create meaningful transformation in patient care.”

Ohio’s eight children’s hospitals and 17 Central Ohio hospitals worked to implement specific programs to reduce healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and medication errors. Through their work, the hospitals identified data collection protocols and best practice processes that were shared among the institutions and will also be shared with interested outside organizations in Ohio and nationwide.

To read the full release please visit the Patient Safety & Quality Healthcare website

New National Awards to Recognize Progress Toward Eliminating Healthcare-Associated Infections

A new national awards program will recognize teams of critical care professionals, hospital units and healthcare institutions able to successfully reduce or eliminate healthcare-associated infections (HAI), a leading cause of death in the United States.The awards are sponsored by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), Office of the Assistant Secretary for Health, Office of Healthcare Quality, and the Critical Care Societies Collaborative (CCSC), a multidisciplinary organization that includes the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses, American College of Chest Physicians, American Thoracic Society and Society of Critical Care Medicine.

Applications for the awards are due by January 29, 2011. Visit www.aacn.org/hhs-ccsc-award for complete details, eligibility, selection criteria and application requirements. AACN will coordinate nomination and selection for the first awards cycle."The awards strive to motivate clinicians, hospital executives and facilities to improve clinical practice so the healthcare community can achieve wide-scale reduction and long-term elimination of healthcare-associated infections," says Justine Medina, RN, MS, AACN director of professional practice and programs. "They recognize teams of critical care professionals whose notable achievements lead the way toward achieving this goal."

Healthcare-associated infections rank among the top 10 causes of death in the United States, according to estimates from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Atlanta. The CDC reports nearly two million HAIs occur in hospitals each year, contributing to almost 100,000 deaths.The new awards program will annually recognize teams of critical care professionals, hospital units and healthcare institutions that achieve excellence and notable, sustained improvements in preventing healthcare-associated infections, specifically infections in critical care. Initially, the awards will emphasize success related to reducing and eliminating central line-associated bloodstream infections and ventilator-associated pneumonia.

Awards will be conferred at two levels, according to specific criteria tied to national standards. The Outstanding Leadership Award will recognize benchmark systems of excellence that result in sustained success of 25 months or longer in the prevention of elimination of targeted HAIs and national leadership in sharing and disseminating information. A second award for sustained improvement will recognize teams able to demonstrate consistent and sustained progress over an 18-to-24 month period.

The first awards will be presented Monday, May 2, 2011, at AACN's National Teaching Institute & Critical Care Exposition, Chicago.