Dr. Natalia Blanco discusses the study from the University of Maryland conducted by her and her team and published in the March 2021 issue of AJIC: "Impact of a C. difficile infection (CDI) reduction bundle and its components on CDI diagnosis and prevention."This episode is brought to you by the American Journal of Infection Control (AJIC) and Infection Prevention Spotlight. 

Infection Prevention Spotlight

Effect of CDI Reduction Bundle on C.diff Infection, Diagnosis, and Prevention

Each year 1.7 million Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs) occur that contribute to 99,000 deaths and $20 billion in healthcare costs. What makes these numbers even more tragic is that 70 percent of all the HAIs are PREVENTABLE! Infection Prevent Spotlight was created by an Infection Preventionist (IP) certified in Infection Control (CIC) for other IPs and everyone else responsible for keeping patients safe from harm. It's hard for IPs to be responsible for reducing HAIs (CLABSIs, CAUTIs, SSIs, MDROs (C.diff, MRSA, VRE, CRE)) and the harm and deaths they cause as well as the financial costs of these results on Medicare reimbursement and public reporting. As an IP I understand this and that's why I've created this podcast. I wanted to make a safe place to talk about these challenges, understand the emerging issues, share the newest best practices and current research, and to be a place where IPs could support each other in our journey to zero Harm. Infection Prevention and Control spans multiple areas: hospitals, skilled nursing facilities, outpatient surgery centers, dialysis centers, ambulance companies / emergency management, schools, and even our homes. My hope is that Infection Prevention Spotlight will provide you with the motivation, knowledge, and quick tips to take back to your team, facility, for your own journey where ever it may be and prevent HAIs by engaging, communicating, leading, demonstrating, reviewing, and teaching about: hand hygiene (HH) |hand washing; indwelling catheters; central venous catheters; surgical procedures; isolation procedures / isolation precautions (Contact, Droplet, Airborne); Standard precautions; hospital leadership, IP systems and staff training; personal protective equipment; environmental services; linen / laundry; Reprocessing of non-critical equipment, semi-critical equipment (high-level disinfection), reusable critical equipment/instruments/devices (sterilization); ventilator / respiratory therapy; environmental disinfection / cleaning; antibiotic stewardship; performance improvement; and Survey Readiness. We are stronger together, let’s make it to zero and save lives.

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Infection Prevention Spotlight