• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Experts From CDC, IHI, Premier Healthcare Alliance Share Best Practices With Hospitals for Prevention of Healthcare Associated Infections

Posted on: Thursday, 21 June 2007, 15:00 CDT

Infection control experts from the nation's top government, healthcare and academic institutions shared best practices regarding the prevention of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) and patient care at the Premier healthcare alliance annual Breakthroughs Conference. Over 3,000 attendees from 500 hospitals attended the conference, which took place in Orlando, Fla.

The session featured insights regarding the creation of a culture of infection control and prevention across entire organizations, with increased transparency and a documented business case for prevention.

Experts speaking at the conference included:

Chesley Richards, M.D., M.P.H., deputy director, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention;

Carol Haraden, Ph.D., vice president, Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI);

Eli Perencevich, M.D., M.S., associate professor, Department of Epidemiology and Preventive Medicine, University of Maryland School of Medicine;

Graeme Forrest, M.D., Division of Infectious Diseases, University of Maryland, Baltimore;

Daniel W. Varga, M.D., chief medical officer, SSM Health Care-St. Louis;

Peter A. Gross, M.D., senior vice president and chief medical officer, Hackensack University Medical Center;

Richard Van Enk, Ph.D., director of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Bronson Methodist Hospital;

Dan Peterson, M.D., vice president and medical director, Premier;

Gina Pugliese, R.N., M.S., vice president, Safety Institute, Premier.

"Research has shown HAIs are often preventable if identified and isolated in time, yet many hospitals still use tracking systems that are too slow to rapidly curb the spread of HAIs," said Dr. Peterson from Premier. "Premier is committed to helping hospitals identify and implement innovative infection-control methods to create a safer hospital environment and improve the quality of patient care."

Each year, HAIs contribute to the illness of nearly 2 million patients and the death of another 100,000. HAIs also account for $6 billion in excess healthcare costs. Medication errors and inappropriate medication usage create patient care issues that clinicians and hospital leaders actively seek to resolve. Currently, the majority of hospitals are only able to do targeted manual surveillance of high-risk infection areas due to a lack of resources.

To help hospitals protect patients from HAIs, Premier offers SafetySurveillor™, an infection surveillance tool that allows hospitals to rapidly identify and isolate infections, including Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Clostridium difficile, to stop the spread of contagions. With SafetySurveillor, hospitals have the ability to automate the surveillance of lab data and documentation of findings related to HAIs. This can be achieved across the entire hospital, not just in specified units.

About Premier, 2006 Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award recipient

Serving 1,700 hospitals and more than 46,500 other healthcare sites, Premier is the largest healthcare alliance in the United States dedicated to improving patient outcomes while safely reducing the cost of care. Owned by not-for-profit hospitals, Premier operates the nation's largest healthcare purchasing network, the most comprehensive repository of hospital clinical and financial information and one of the largest policy-holder owned, hospital professional liability risk-retention groups in healthcare. Headquartered in San Diego, Premier has offices in Charlotte, N.C. and Washington. For more information, visit www.premierinc.com.

Source: Business Wire

More News in this Category