Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Update - June 2018

Minnesota Department of Health

Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Update

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June 13, 2018

Become a Safe Injection Champion

Get Started: Take the Becoming a Safe Injection Champion Course

Now you can become a Safe Injection Champion! Our partners at the Nebraska Department of Health and Human Services recently launched the “Safe Injection Champion” program. The program trains providers on how to become a Safe Injection Champion.

To become a Safe Injection Champion you will need to participate in the free online training, complete an assessment, and assure that all staff at your work site adhere to best practices.

Learn more: Nebraska DHHS: HAI Safe Injection Champion Program

Let us know when you have completed the course at health.hai@state.mn.us.


Antibiotic-related Adverse Drug Events

June is National Safety month. We can use this time to raise awareness about issues like medication safety. Antibiotics save lives; however, a new study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine reveals that antibiotic-related adverse drug events (ADE) resulted in 145,000 adult Emergency Department (ED) visits annually and accounted for 14% of all adult ED visits

The lifesaving benefits of antibiotics do not come without posing some risk to the patient. When prescribing antibiotics, it is important to communicate common side effects of antibiotics, as well as the more serious side effects, such as C. difficile infection and life-threatening allergic reactions.

Read more: Journal of General Internal Medicine: National Estimates of Emergency Department Visits for Antibiotic Adverse Events Among Adults—United States, 2011–2015


Minnesota Antibiotic Stewardship Honor Roll for Long-Term Care: Inaugural honorees recognized

Honor Roll Logo

The Minnesota Antibiotic Stewardship Honor Roll was developed by partners in the One Health Antibiotic Stewardship Collaborative and our statewide partners in long-term care stewardship. Recognized facilities have demonstrated commitment to antibiotic stewardship, implemented interventions that improve antibiotic use, and have shown a willingness to support stewardship outside their facilities through collaborative activities.

Check out the list of honor roll facilities and learn about their stewardship interventions and collaborative stewardship activities: Long-Term Care Honor Roll: Minnesota Antibiotic Stewardship

Additional Minnesota facilities may apply any time. Honor Roll recognition is annually renewable. 


Long Term Care Reporting in the National Healthcare Safety Network

The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) long-term care website has been updated with two new resources.

  1. The NHSN Long-term Care Facility Component (PDF) Manual includes information and resources relevant to NHSN surveillance and reporting.  The manual combines all of the NHSN LTCF protocols, data collection forms and table of instructions, and other great resources used by participating long-term care facilities to report urinary tract infections and C. difficile LabID Events.
  2. NHSN Long-term Care Facility Component Frequently Asked Questions (PDF) incorporates common questions from users with detailed responses.

    Save the Dates

    The NHSN Annual Training for Long-term Care Facilities will be held Monday, July 16 - Wednesday, July 18, 2018.

    Training topics include antibiotic stewardship, hands-on data analysis, surveillance and prevention for urinary tract infections, C. difficile, multi-drug resistant organisms, and more.  All of the presentations will be available via live web-stream.

    Learn more: CDC: 2018 NHSN Long-term Care Facility Component Annual Training

    Get Started

    MDH offers support for long-term care facilities interested in enrolling in NHSN. If you would like to get started, contact us at health.hai@state.mn.us.


    Antibiotic Use Patient Education Materials

     CDC: Antibiotic Prescribing and Use in Doctor’s Offices Print Materials

    Patients suffering from a cold or cough sometimes request antibiotics to alleviate symptoms. Antibiotics are not always the answer. They can put the patient at-risk for harmful side effects and antibiotic-resistant infections. The CDC has developed educational materials describing the appropriate use of antibiotics. These publications describe when and how to take antibiotics, antibiotic side effects, care without antibiotics, and preventing transmission of infectious diseases.

    Learn more: CDC: Antibiotic Prescribing and Use in Doctor’s Offices Print Materials

    Call for Nominations - 2018 CHAIN Award for Excellence

    Are you part of, or do you know a health care team that is doing great work to reduce the incidence of infections or combat antibiotic resistance? For instance:

    • Involving patients or residents and their families in your work to reduce infections or enhance antibiotic stewardship
    • Launching an antibiotic stewardship program, with early successes to share
    • Ramping up your infection control program by enhancing surveillance, improving testing practices, or finding creative ways to promote best practices for prevention
    • Establishing a team focused on this work either within your facility or across settings of care
    • Developing a new protocol or resource to support staff

    If you have done any of the above or something else to improve your work in this area, Minnesota Collaborative Healthcare-Associated Infection Network (CHAIN) wants to hear from you! The 2018 CHAIN Award for Excellence commends the infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship efforts of health care teams working hard to build a safer overall health care environment.

    We encourage health care leaders and staff from across care settings to submit nominations by completing the brief online submission linked below. CHAIN members will review all nominations for key lessons learned and innovative strategies that contribute to infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship. Promising practices and findings will be shared through a variety of venues to promote learning and improve health care across the state. 

    The 2018 CHAIN award winners will be selected from both the hospital and long-term care setting. Award winners will be recognized on September 26, 2018 at the CHAIN Fall Conference and will be invited to share a brief presentation with their peers regarding their important contribution to patient safety and quality of care. 2018 CHAIN Award Nomination Form

    2018 CHAIN Award Nomination Form
    Online submission of nominations will be accepted through August 3, 2018.

    All nominations will be recognized at the Conference and receive a certificate recognizing their work towards eliminating healthcare-associated infections and antibiotic resistance.

    Read more: CHAIN Award for Excellence 

     


    CHAIN Award for Excellence

    The Minnesota Collaborative Healthcare-Associated Infection Network (CHAIN) Award for Excellence commends the infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship efforts of health care teams working to build safer health care environments. The awards are presented annually by the Collaborative Healthcare-Associated Infection Network (CHAIN). We had many great initiatives submitted and we will be featuring a brief summary of each nomination in the coming months. This month we are featuring the ASB UTI Committee at Walker Methodist Health Center. We hope the lessons learned will provide you with innovative ideas that are useful to you regarding patient safety and quality of care. 


    Walker Methodist Health Center (WMHC) implemented a system to improve accurate assessment of UTI diagnosis, symptom documentation, and management of antibiotic use. Interventions included education on UTI and ASB management for nursing staff, residents, and families; staff education on implementing use of the Loeb criteria for appropriate urine screening and treatment of UTI; applying the AHRQ Suspected UTI SBAR communication tool; tracking UTI and antibiotic utilization; and standardized 72-hour antibiotic and culture review processes. The intervention was implemented on July 5, 2017. To date, 73% of staff utilize the Suspected UTI SBAR, which has led to a decrease in orders for urinalysis and urine cultures.