Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are a major public health concern in the United States resulting in 1.7million infections and over 99,000 deaths each year. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), A Healthcare Associated Infection (HAI) is defined as a localized or systemic condition resulting from an adverse reaction to the presence of an infectious agent(s) or its toxin(s) that:
- a) Occurs in a patient in a healthcare setting
- b) Was not found to be present or incubating at the time of admission unless the infection was related to a previous admission to the same setting
- c) If the setting is a hospital, meets the criteria for a specific infection site as defined by the CDC
Hospitals, including Griffin Hospital, routinely practice infection control measures that are put in place to help reduce the risks of infection. Some of the control measures that we use are:
- Standard and Transmission Based Precautions
- Use of antimicrobial dressings for specified central lines
- Total respiratory screening for all patients who undergo an operative procedure
- High Reliability Clinical Bundles
- High Reliability Clinical Bundles include specific targeted measures to prevent hospital acquired conditions (HACs) such as:
- Surgical site infections (SSI): using appropriate use and dosing of antibiotics, maintaining proper body temperature, and time out reviews by the surgical team prior to procedures.
- Central Line Bundle (CLABSI): hand hygiene, maximal barrier precautions, chlorhexidine skin cleansing, optimal catheter site selection, and daily review of line necessity to prevent central line associated blood stream infections.
We conduct “targeted surveillance” which is data collected for selected infections. The infections that we have targeted are: a) device associated infections: central line associated urinary tract infections; b) surgical site infections (SSIs) for knee arthroplasty, hip arthroplasty, colon surgery, and abdominal hysterectomy; c) Lab identified events including MRSA Bacteremia (Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus), blood infection and C-Difficile, an intestinal infection.