The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) had a great time celebrating U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week in November – we hope you did, too! While that one week was great to highlight the importance of antibiotic stewardship, we want to stress the necessity of utilizing antibiotic stewardship resources to inform best practices every day.
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New! Dental and Veterinary Clinic Commitment Posters. Show your facility's commitment to antibiotic stewardship and improving prescribing practices through customizable commitment posters. Hospital and healthcare provider posters are also available.
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New! Minnesota Antibiotic Stewardship Program Toolkit for Outpatient Toolkit. Decrease unnecessary antibiotic prescribing during cold and flu season with cough and cold care kit guides, viral prescription pads, and bronchitis/sinusitis fact sheets.
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New! Frequently Asked Questions About Antimicrobial Use and Resistance. Learn answers to common questions and misconceptions about antibiotic use, resistance, and stewardship in human, animal, and environmental health.
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New! Antibiotic Stewardship Videos. Hear key messages for patients and providers around antibiotics, resistance, and stewardship from a Minnesota physician. Great for waiting rooms, exam rooms, or patient portals!
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New! Examination Room and Waiting Room Essentials. Prevent boredom and raise antibiotic awareness at the same time! Use fun, educational resources, like a coloring sheet, word search, or video, in your exam and waiting rooms.
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Updated! Antibiotic Resistance and Stewardship Resources for Educators. Find resources, lesson plans, and activities or request a speaker or ask a question.
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Updated! Infection and Antibiotic Use Tracking Tool for Long-Term Care. Guide practice changes through tracking antibiotic use and infection rates.
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Share! Lights, Camera, Action for Antibiotics Video Contest. Spread the word about the Lights, Camera, Action for Antibiotics video contest for MN middle and high school students. Increase antibiotic awareness with a 30-second video about antibiotic resistance and good antibiotic use.
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Updated! Minnesota Pollution Control Agency: Dispose of Unwanted Medications. Find a take-back box near you and properly dispose of unused medications.
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Updated! Antibiotic Stewardship Fact Sheets. Fact sheets cover many important topics regarding antibiotic resistance and stewardship across human, animal, and environmental health. Whether you are a physician, dentist, veterinarian, pharmacist, patient, pet-owner, meat-eater, or milk-drinker, there is a fact sheet for you.
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Stay current! Follow @MNHealth on Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube. Be the first to hear about new resources available, upcoming events, exciting accomplishments, and much more.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) invites Minnesota middle and high school-aged students (grades 6–12) to help increase antibiotic awareness through the second annual Lights, Camera, Action for Antibiotics video contest!
- Students will produce a 30-second video to spread the word about antibiotic resistance and good antibiotic use.
- This is a great opportunity for students to build their design portfolio, schools to use as part of their curriculum, and the public to learn more about the threat of antibiotic resistance.
- Finalist videos will be posted on MDH's website, shared through social media, and used in public service announcements.
- Share this information with relevant applicants!
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Submissions are due by Feb. 1, 2019.
- View past contest winning videos and consider using them in waiting rooms to educate patients on this important topic.
Would you like to know what other hospitals and long-term care antibiotic stewardship (AS) activities are going on in Minnesota? Are you looking for new ideas and ways to improve your AS program?
The Minnesota Antibiotic Stewardship Honor Rolls recognize Minnesota hospitals and long-term care facilities committed to antibiotic stewardship. Facilities may apply at any time and renew annually.
We would like to hear about the work being done in your facility. APPLY TODAY!
Learn more about what current honorees are doing:
Long-term Care Honor Roll
Acute Care and Critical Access Honor Roll
The Minnesota Antibiotic Stewardship Honor Roll is supported by Minnesota Department of Health, Minnesota Hospital Association, Stratis Health, Association for Professionals in Infection Control (APIC), and promoted on behalf of the Collaborative Healthcare-Associated Infection Network (CHAIN).
Are you committed to decreasing unnecessary antibiotic use and hearing about the latest resources and news related to antibiotic stewardship? Curious about how antibiotic stewardship relates to animal health and the natural environment?
Stay up-to-date on all things related to antibiotic stewardship by subscribing to the One Health Antibiotic Stewardship Newsletter!
To subscribe, visit the Minnesota One Health Antibiotic Stewardship Collaborative webpage and click on the top-right link called "Subscribe to MN One Health Antibiotic Stewardship Collaborative updates". You can unsubscribe at any time.
The Minnesota Department of Health (MDH) currently has a list of health care contacts known as The Compendium for acute care hospitals, long-term care facilities, hemodialysis centers, and outpatient clinics.
The Compendium is utilized by MDH to:
- Send direct and/or targeted alerts or advisory messages in parallel to the Health Alert Network (HAN). *Please Note: The compendium does not serve as an alternative or replacement for HAN messages.
- Send periodic messages related to infectious disease and/or other notifications when the need arises. Examples of past messages sent included content on influenza, announcement of the High Consequence Infectious Disease (HCID) toolkit, and information on educational opportunities.
- Hear from industry partners about their needs and challenges through brief five-minute surveys.
MDH needs your help to expand The Compendium to include emergency medical services (EMS) partners. Please sign your service up by completing a few questions in the survey below. It is recommended that each EMS service provide a few contacts to ensure messages are received.
Survey: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Compendium
Thank you for taking the time to share your contact information with us so we can be sure to send relevant information when the need arises.
For questions or concerns about the EMS Compendium, please contact the MDH HAI unit at 651-201-5414 or health.HAI@state.mn.us.
MDH's Injection Safety Workshop: Three-Part Recorded Webinar Series is now available online. By the end of the training sessions, participants will be able to:
- Describe outbreaks that have occurred as a result of unsafe injection practices.
- Identify available resources to promote injection safety.
- Describe the correct use of single-use and multi-dose vials and IV solution bags.
- Describe the importance of strict adherence to aseptic technique for preparing and administering medication using a syringe and needle.
- Define drug diversion; describe outbreaks that have occurred as the result of these practices and lessons learned.
- Identify first steps to creating an injection safety program for education and competency testing for facility staff.
Each participant must register for each session to view the recordings and be eligible for CEUs. The recorded webinars can be used in new employee orientation and/or annual staff competency trainings. Schedule a "lunch and learn" series over a period of three weeks or view the sessions individually. Take the opportunity to "remind and refresh" health care workers' knowledge about the importance of injection safety. Safe injections are a part of patient safety, and patient safety is everyone's responsibility.
The recording and slides from "How Well Are You Protected? What Health Care Workers Need to Know About Gown Standards and Selection Considerations" is now posted on the MDH Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) for Infection Control webpage.
Original presentation on November 20, 2018
Presenter: Dr. Selcen Kilinc-Balci, PhD, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Overview: The National Personal Protective Technology Laboratory (NPPTL) recognizes healthcare workers can be exposed to body fluids that are capable of transmitting diseases and recommends these healthcare workers wear protective clothing to protect both the patient and themselves from the transfer of microorganisms by blood and body fluids. Translating disease-specific infection control recommendations into personal protective equipment (PPE) specifications can be challenging.
Learning objectives of this webinar include:
- Summarize the protective clothing selection process
- Explain CDC Ebola PPE recommendations
- Identify performance requirements and standard test methods for healthcare worker clothing
- Describe ongoing NPPTL research projects with gowns
This information is important for occupational health practitioners as they consider the potentially increased occupational risk for infectious diseases.
MDH is committed to partnering with MN Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs) to prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). In 2017, MDH HAI/AR unit (a non-regulatory unit) invited infection preventionists from ASCs throughout the state to come together to discuss the issues related to prevention, detection, monitoring, and control of healthcare-associated infections. The group identified a wide range of topics of interest and decided they would like to learn more about prevention and control of HAIs and discuss best practices. This past year, experienced and knowledgeable leaders in the field have lead discussions on topics ranging from airflow and humidity in the ASC to investigating an outbreak. We plan to continue the meetings in 2019.
You are invited to join the conversation:
When: The second Wednesday of the month at 10:00 a.m.
How to join: Contact the MDH HAI unit at 651-201-5414 or health.HAI@state.mn.us
The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) has released a new outpatient procedure component (OPC) - Surveillance for Surgical Site Infection (SSI) Events. This component is specific to Ambulatory Surgery Centers (ASCs). For ASCs currently reporting SSI data using the Patient Safety Component (PSC), enrollment in the OPC will be automatic and require no actions on the part of the ASC. The OPC-SSI protocol and training materials are located at
Learn more: NHSN: Surveillance for Surgical Site Infection (SSI) Events
ASC Surgical Site Infection Reporting is not required in Minnesota. The use of the OPC-SDOM does not fulfill any CMS reporting requirements. ASCs that are currently NOT enrolled nor participating in one of the NHSN components may choose to participate in the OPC. These ASCs will need to complete the NHSN 5-Step Enrollment for Ambulatory Surgery Centers and NHSN Set-up.
Please contact NHSN@cdc.gov with any questions about the OPC and include Outpatient Procedure Component or OPC in the subject line.
The Making Dialysis Safer for Patients Coalition is a partnership of organizations and individuals that work to promote the CDC’s core interventions and resources to prevent dialysis bloodstream infections (BSIs). The Coalition has several materials available to help reduce BSIs among hemodialysis patients. The checklists, audit tools, DVDs, and posters can all be ordered free of charge using CDC-INFO.
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