Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Update - Dec. 2018

Minnesota Department of Health

Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Update

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December 2018

Antibiotic Stewardship Resources

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.


Antibiotics Student Video Contest – Now Open!

Lights, Camera, Action for Antibiotics Video Contest banner

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!
  • 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.

Apply Today! Minnesota Antibiotic Stewardship Honor Rolls

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).

 Minnesota Antibiotic Stewardship Honor Rolls: Collaboration, Action, Commitment

Get Updates on All Things Antibiotic Stewardship

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.


EMS Compendium

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:

  1. 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. 
  2. 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.
  3. 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.


Injection Safety Workshop Recordings

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:

  1. Describe outbreaks that have occurred as a result of unsafe injection practices. 
  2. Identify available resources to promote injection safety.
  3. Describe the correct use of single-use and multi-dose vials and IV solution bags. 
  4. Describe the importance of strict adherence to aseptic technique for preparing and administering medication using a syringe and needle. 
  5. Define drug diversion; describe outbreaks that have occurred as the result of these practices and lessons learned. 
  6. 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.


WebEx Recording: How Well Are You Protected?

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.


Opportunity to Network with ASC Peers and Discuss HAI Best Practices

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


NHSN Outpatient Procedure Component for ASCs

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.


You’re Invited to Join The Making Dialysis Safer for Patients Coalition

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.

Make Dialysis Safer Coalition

Learn more:

CDC: Making Dialysis Safer for Patients Coalition

CDC: Dialysis Safety Resource Center

Visit CDC-INFO on Demand or call 1-800-CDC-INFO

CHAIN Award for Excellence: Bethany On The Lake

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 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 a Bethany On The Lake. We hope the lessons learned will provide you with innovative ideas that are useful to you regarding infection control and antibiotic stewardship. 

Bethany On The Lake received the CHAIN Award for its infection control efforts.

The long-term care facility developed an interdisciplinary team focused on infection control made up of nurses, pharmacy staff, social work staff, the medical director, and the administrator. This team participates in weekly and monthly quality improvement meetings to review data gathered by a dedicated infection control nurse and create strategies to improve identified problem areas. Areas of specific improvement have included engagement of residents and their families in the infection control process, antibiotic stewardship, and review of infection prevention processes.

Organizational engagement was necessary to the facility's commitment toward safe patient handling through infection prevention and good stewardship of antibiotics. The first step was to educate residents, direct care staff, and rounding providers on infections commonly seen in geriatric patients and how those infections can be best treated, along with adverse effects directly related to misuse and overuse of antibiotics.

Urinary tract infections are one of the most commonly observed infections. To standardize treatment, Bethany On The Lake initiated a campaign to educate staff that if the Loeb minimum criteria were not met, a urine specimen would not be collected for testing and supportive symptom management would be started instead (i.e., increase fluids, exercise, vital sign monitoring, medication review). This criterion is also used for patients with respiratory and soft tissue infections.

Bethany On The Lake collaborated with its local emergency department to identify an order bundle including urine specimen collection for anyone over 55, resulting in a practice of prescribing antibiotics based on culture results and not empirical evidence alone. The facility also completes an antibiotic time out where a form is submitted no later than 72 hours for the resident's primary physician to review. This form includes follow-up data about the specific antibiotic order, lab and diagnostic results, and status of infection symptoms. The provider then can indicate to direct care staff whether the continuation of the medication is warranted.

Engaging residents and their families has been critical to the success of the infection control program. The interdisciplinary team and resident council facilitate antibiotic stewardship education for all residents and their families, as well as open forums on the topic during council meetings, care conferences, and discharge planning meetings.

Since implementing the infection control program, Bethany On The Lake has seen infection rates drop. The facility has been recognized on the Minnesota Department of Health Honor Roll at the gold level for collaboration, action, and commitment.