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Ongoing Transmission of Candida auris in Washington Healthcare Facilities
Please see the information below for an update from the Washington Department of Health (DOH) regarding ongoing healthcare-associated transmission of Candida auris (C. auris); this serves as an update to the previous Health Advisory from January 2024, after local transmission of C. auris was first identified.
All Local Health Jurisdictions (LHJs) and Tribal Health Partners should be aware that there is ongoing healthcare-associated transmission of C. auris in Washington in at least two facilities; jurisdictions should be aware that there may be undetected cases in other facilities.
A Provider Alert is available for distribution to healthcare providers.
The WA DOH Health Alert Network has detailed information for healthcare providers, LHJ's and Tribal Partners.
Report C. auris cases or outbreaks to the MDRO team.
New Blood Culture Vial Conservation Guidance from WA DOH
WA DOH’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Team is pleased to announce the availability of our Blood Culture Vial Conservation Guidance for Acute Care Facilities. BD Life Sciences is currently experiencing a shortage of BD BACTEC blood culture vials, which is affecting acute care facilities across the US. The FDA has recommended that facilities develop strategies to preserve limited supply for patients at highest risk. This new guidance document provides high level recommendations and resources to support facilities with developing a local strategy. Please email the AMS team with questions.
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Infection Prevention and Control |
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We have a new ICAR Coordinator!
We would like to introduce our new ICAR Coordinator, Bryan Sibrian. Once he is all trained up, he will coordinate the Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) Support Services such as ICARs, Skills Demos and Guest Education that healthcare facilities request. In the meantime, please visit our IPC Support Services Request Button to schedule a visit or a conversation with an Infection Preventionist.
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Hello everyone! My name is Bryan and I'm excited to be part of the infection prevention team! I've been with DOH for a little over 3 and a half years now. Previously, I was an outbreak support specialist doing COVID-19 contact tracing and supporting LHJs with STI surveillance. I received my BS in Biology in 2017, and I have had a couple career changes since then. I worked at a hospital as a CNA in the progressive care unit, then I did some environmental marine work with the WA State Department of Natural Resources and Fish and Wildlife, and since 2020 I've been doing public health work with DOH. Outside of work I like being in nature, spending time with family, trying new restaurants, and playing sports like soccer and rock climbing. |
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Antimicrobial Stewardship |
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Resources for All Antimicrobial Stewards
Free Antibiotic Use Print Materials!
CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion offers FREE patient and healthcare professional (HCP) resources for Be Antibiotics Aware. Order free print materials on CDC Publications On Demand by typing “Antibiotic Use” in the "Keyword or PubID” box and clicking “Apply,” or by calling 1-800-CDC-INFO.
Acute Care Stewardship Resources
Join the NHSN Antibiotic Use (AU) User’s Group
Acute Care Hospitals in Washington are invited to join DOH’s NHSN AU User's Group, which aims to support hospitals in utilizing their NHSN AU data effectively. Participants will gain valuable insights into generating reports in NHSN, analyzing and interpreting antimicrobial use data, and ultimately improving antimicrobial stewardship practices within their facilities. Facilities participating in the User’s Group are granted access to an interactive dashboard for benchmarking data against other hospitals, facilitating continuous quality improvement efforts. Register today!
Long-Term Care Stewardship Resources
Join the Skilled Nursing Facility Antimicrobial Stewardship (SNF AMS) Collaborative!
Enhance your antimicrobial stewardship expertise and skills through WA DOH’s SNF AMS Collaborative. The collaborative will run from September 2024 – May 2025, and will consist of monthly 45-min sessions. Each session will include a concise presentation, hands-on activities, and Q&A. Benefits of participation include improved antibiotic use and survey readiness. Earn a certificate upon completion, demonstrating your enhanced stewardship expertise. Learn more and register today!
Free Patient Communication CE for Nurses and Medical Assistants
This activity is designed to improve communication skills around antibiotic use to help avoid inappropriate prescribing. The activity offers free CE credits for both nurses and medical assistants and is based on the CDC’s 4-part Communication Strategy.
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Race and Ethnicity Data Reported to NHSN
When completing mandated reporting of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), hospitals enter data on the infection event and the patient with the infection. Some patient-level fields include race and ethnicity, which have been optional fields. Since these fields are optional, most facilities do not enter these data, limiting our understanding of how race and ethnicity are related to HAIs. However, starting in 2025, Race, Ethnicity and Language (REaL) Data will be required fields across all NHSN components and facility types. More information regarding the REaL reporting requirement is available on Page 3 of the NHSN 2024 Quarter 1 Newsletter.
In anticipation of the new reporting requirements, the data below shows the percentage of HAI events reported to NHSN in the Patient Safety Component that contain Race or Ethnicity data. This includes all CMS required HAI events reported to NHSN:
- central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI)
- catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI)
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difficile infection (CDI) or methicillin-resistant S. aureus (MRSA) Laboratory-Identified (LabID) event (community- and healthcare-onset LabID events are included.)
- surgical site infection (SSI)
- COLO (following colon surgeries)
- HYST (following abdominal hysterectomies)
The included data are from acute care hospitals, critical access hospitals, long-term acute care hospitals, and inpatient rehabilitation facilities in Washington State.
Percentage of Events Reported to NHSN with Race or Ethnicity Data
 Since January 2023, 9,352 HAI events have been reported to NHSN. Of the 87 facilities included in this analysis, only 26 (30%) have reported any race or ethnicity data. The pie graphs above show the percentage of events with race (left) or ethnicity (right) reported. Overall, 353 (3.77%) of events have race reported and 283 (3.03%) events have ethnicity reported. only 240 (2.57%) events with data for both race and ethnicity. There is much work to be done before this reporting becomes a requirement in 2025.
The updated race and ethnicity fields, with a larger and more standardized list of race categories and ethnic groups, is expected to be available within NHSN in Fall 2024. We encourage facilities begin to look into how they will collect and report race and ethnicity data to prepare for the required reporting changes starting in 2025.
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Welcome New IP Champions!
We would like to extend a warm welcome to our 2024-2025 IP Champions!
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Adrianna Mitalas
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Amber Jordan
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Amelia Hanron
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Angela Cadwell
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Bianca Sanon
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Breein Scarlett- Fiser
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Cheryl Pfeifer
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Craig Youderian
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Crystal Carter
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Emily Spence Davizon
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Estefania Martinez Limo
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Holly Petta
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Jennifer Hernandez
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Jessica Johnson
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Julie Choudhuri
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Karla De La Cruz
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Laura Erickson
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Lianne Bradshaw
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Melissa Malone
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We look forward to working with you this next year!
Don’t Forget!
We offer several training and education opportunities to help you out during onboarding, annual training, and continuing education! See how one of the following programs can help you out today!
Interactive online training modules: Available for CE/CNEs at no cost! Topics range from hand hygiene, respiratory droplets, to enhanced barrier precautions.
Text Messages: Short, weekly text messages on important infection prevention topics. Text “JoinWAIPC” to 59309.
Podcasts: Short podcast episodes ranging from basic infection prevention topics to IP in different settings to an antimicrobial stewardship mini-series.
Go to our website for more WA Project Firstline information and resources!
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National Healthcare and Safety Network (NHSN) |
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Bimonthly NHSN User Group for Hospitals
Join us for the NHSN Hospital User Group calls. We will host these calls every other month. Please register in advance for this call series. Upcoming meetings are as follows.
- Sep 10, 2024 10:30 AM
- Nov 12, 2024 10:30 AM
Please reach out to the NHSN Epi Team if you have any questions or have topic ideas for any of the calls.
Monthly Long-Term Care NHSN User Group
You are invited to register for the monthly NHSN skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) forum to share and, collaborate, improve reporting accuracy, and increase user knowledge. Calls are scheduled for the second Thursday of the month, 11:00 a.m. –noon. Upcoming meetings are as follows:
- September 12, 2024
- October 10, 2024
- November 14, 2024
- December 12, 2024
Please reach out to the NHSN Epi Team for more information.
NHSN Support Services for SNFs
For a more comprehensive list of NHSN support options the HAI Epi Team can provide to skilled nursing facilities, see the NHSN Support and Technical Assistance for Skilled Nursing Facilities flyer.
NHSN Reporting Updates and Trainings
CDC's July 2024 NHSN Virtual Post-Acute Care Training is available online:
You can now access the recorded trainings for the Virtual Post-Acute Care Training for Long-term Care Component, Dialysis Component, and Healthcare Personnel Safety (Healthcare Personnel Vaccination) Surveillance and Analytics. By registering, you can access the videos and slides from the 3 days of training.
More information is available on the Post-Acute Care (PAC) Training website.
NHSN Epidemiology Email
The NHSN Epidemiology Team has a dedicated inbox. Please email the EPI team for any NHSN related questions, issues, or concerns. This will allow our team to respond to your message in a timely manner.
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Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) |
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Puget Sound Chapter
The Puget Sound Region APIC chapter meets on the fourth Thursday of every month from noon to 2:00 p.m.
- We review important legislative updates, IPC news, and educational opportunities.
- Journal club and round table discussions keep IPs up-to-date on recent activity in the IPC field, as well as connect with local IPs.
Register in advance for meetings. Links to registration sites can be found on our social media and website a few weeks prior.
APIC Podcasts:
AJIC Monthly Podcast
New Episode:
Recent Episodes:
Tune in the first Thursday of each month for new episodes.
APIC Monthly 5 Second Rule Podcast
Recent Episodes:
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WA DOH Influenza Update for Week 28 now available!
The weekly summary is available.
State Summary
- Influenza-like illness activity was minimal during week 28.
- To date, 128 lab-confirmed influenza deaths have been reported for the 2023-2024 season.
- To date, 91 influenza-like illness outbreaks in long term care facilities have been reported for the 2023-2024 season.
- During week 28, 0.7 percent of visits among Influenza-like Illness Network (ILINet) participants were for influenza-like illness, which was below the baseline of 1.9 percent.
- During week 28, 1.8 percent of specimens tested by WHO and NREVSS collaborating laboratories in Washington were positive for influenza.
- Influenza A and Influenza B were reported to the ILINet surveillance system during week 28.
The Washington State Department of Health Influenza Update reports will be produced monthly for weeks 21-39 this summer and will resume a weekly reporting cadence beginning on week 40 this fall.
Historic influenza reports
DOH creates influenza reports for healthcare providers and public health including:
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 Announcing the Summer 2024 NH-ALF Provider Forum
Attention Nursing Home (NH) and Assisted Living Facility (ALF) Providers!
You're invited to participate in Aging and Long-Term Care Support Administration, Division of Residential Care Services Summer 2024 NH, and ALF Forums. These are opportunities to meet your Field Managers and Regional Administrators, discuss important topics of provider interest, hear regulatory updates, receive education, and learn opportunities for quality improvement. Most importantly, you have the chance to come together and strengthen communication and understanding of our shared mission and partnership of quality care and service delivery in NH and ALFs for our most vulnerable clients and residents.
Educational themes will be 1) emergency preparedness case studies and 2) providers’ vision for future forums. You're encouraged to review your facility written emergency and disaster plans and procedures prior to the forums. CE approval is being sought for ALF facility staff that are required to meet the CE requirements under WAC 388-112A. All registered attendees will be able to obtain a certificate of completion.
You have a choice to attend in person or virtual. The NH forum is in the morning and the ALF forum is in the afternoon. Registration is free and now open to all NH and ALF providers. Dates, times, and registration are below.
Forum Dates and Times
Nursing Home Forum (register below either in-person or virtual)
8/28/24 – 9:00 a.m. to 12:00pm (break provided)
Assisted Living Facility Forum (register below either in-person or virtual)
8/28/24 – 1:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. (break provided)
Forum In-Person Location
Highline Community College, Bldg. 2, 2400 S 240th St. Des Moines, WA 98198,
Registration Links
In-Person Attendance Registration
Nursing Home Registration!
Assisted Living Facility Registration!
Virtual Attendance Registration
Nursing Home Registration!
Assisted Living Facility Registration!
If you have questions or ideas for future forum trainings, contact Bett Schlemmer!
 New Antimicrobial Resistance Partner Alert
New CDC data underscore antimicrobial resistance (AR) remains an urgent global public health threat. CDC used new data to analyze the United States burden of seven antimicrobial-resistant pathogens typically found in healthcare settings in 2021 and 2022 and compares against 2019 data.
The release of this data is an opportunity to highlight how data are critical to guide efforts to combat antimicrobial resistance, and CDC is committed to providing the high-quality data required to steer this important work. As you may know, CDC's previous antimicrobial resistance threats reports, published in 2013 and 2019, were important resources to guide U.S. policy for and investments in combating antimicrobial resistance.
Starting in 2025, CDC will release updated national estimates of the burden of antimicrobial resistance in the United States, by pathogen, in a new, electronic format. Estimates for at least 19 threats and an update on the overall burden of antimicrobial resistance in the U.S. will be posted by the end of 2025.
Download and share the fact sheet outlining the new data and visit the CDC for more information on antimicrobial resistance threats in the U.S.
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You are subscribed to Healthcare-Associated Infections and Antimicrobial Resistance (HAI&AR) Newsletter for Washington State Department of Health. This information has recently been updated, and is now available. If you have not yet subscribed, you can use the button below.
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