HAI Happenings: Quarter Four 2024 Newsletter
This message is being sent to local public health department officers, nurses, and staff; Tribal health directors; infection preventionists; DQA: Notifications and Updates subscribers.
HAI Happenings highlights new and noteworthy topics for all things related to healthcare-associated infections (HAI), including infection prevention and control (IPC), antimicrobial stewardship (AS), antimicrobial resistance (AR), surveillance, and more. You can also find links to helpful guidance and resources and learn more about current Wisconsin HAI Prevention Program activities.
Knowledge check
Test your knowledge. See the end of the newsletter for the answer.
True or false: When caring for a suspected or confirmed pertussis case, adhere to standard and droplet precautions.
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What's new with the HAI Prevention Program?
The HAI Prevention Program welcomes Christina Olivier to the team! Christina is the HAI Program’s Surveillance and Education Unit Supervisor. She brings valuable experience to the team and has already hit the ground running. Congratulations, Christina.
Don’t miss the new multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) call series. This past October, the HAI Prevention Program began hosting MDRO Office Hours. MDRO Office Hours is a call series staffed by the program’s MDRO infection preventionist, Greta Michaelson, and antimicrobial resistance epidemiologist, Megan Lasure. MDRO Office Hours will provide partners with the opportunity to connect, ask questions, and learn. Participants are highly encouraged to come with questions or topics they’d like to learn more about. Office hours occur the third Wednesday of each month from 1–1:30pm via Zoom. Register for the call series.
A new infection prevention and control training opportunity for local and Tribal health departments (LTHDs) is coming in 2025. The HAI Program will be revamping its previously known LTHD IPC Training Program in the new year. The program will transition to quarterly virtual workshops geared towards LTHDs and open to all who would like to attend. Each workshop will focus on a different IPC topic and include activities, discussions, and more. Be on the look out for more information in the beginning of 2025 and keep up to date on developments on our LTHD education webpage.
The HAI Program has published a new tool for long-term care facilities. The Infection Surveillance Log can help infection preventionists establish infection surveillance in their facilities to track infections, detect clusters, identify emerging diseases, and initiate containment strategies.
The 2023 HAI Data Report has been updated with national data for 2023. National-level HAI data for 2023 was not available when this report was first published in August 2024. The report was recently updated to include national aggregate SIR values for 2023. Also see the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention) 2023 National and State HAI Progress Report for other national-level HAI data.
In the news
The CDC released a series of Health Alert Network (HAN) advisories. These included advisories on prevention strategies for Mpox, the Marburg Virus outbreak in Republic of Rwanda, the disruption in availability of peritoneal dialysis and intravenous solutions, and the identification of the first case of Clade I Mpox in the U.S.
Salmonella infections link to cucumbers have been identified. The Wisconsin Department of Health Services (DHS) shared a message for long-term care facilities and hospitals notifying about the recall and providing steps to follow.
DHS released Health Alert #61 on rising pertussis cases in Wisconsin. The health alert provides reporting, testing, treatment, and exclusion recommendations as well as prevention strategies to prevent illness.
- In response to the DHS Health Alert, the HAI Program shared key points and resources for pertussis infection prevention and control in health care settings.
Best practice and guidance updates
DHS released changes to pertussis reporting requirements. The DPH memo provides information about changes to reporting of suspected and confirmed pertussis cases to local public health departments.
CDC released updated COVID-19 vaccine recommendations. As of October 2024, the CDC now recommends a second dose of the 2024-2025 COVID-19 vaccine for people 65 years and older and for people who are moderately or severely immunocompromised. Visit their vaccine recommendations webpage for more information.
CDC expanded age-based recommendation for pneumococcal vaccine. The CDC lowered the age for which it recommends adult pneumococcal vaccines from 65 to 50 years old.
The HAI Program encourages health care facilities to plan for potential outbreaks. View the full message for recommendations for keeping patients, residents, and staff safe this holiday season.
Project Firstline spotlight
Wanting to provide some refresher trainings going into the new year? Turn to Project Firstline! Project Firstline has a wide variety of IPC training materials and activities that can be used to provide effective education to a health care audience. Be sure to check out their training materials and education webpage.
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Notes from the field: Surgical site infection surveillance and prevention in ambulatory care
Surgical site infections (SSI) continue to be the leading cause of readmissions, extended hospitalizations, and additional procedures1,2. As the surgical procedure landscape continues to shift to outpatient care, it is important that ambulatory surgical centers (ASC) have a robust surveillance and prevention program for SSIs. Although the risk of developing an SSI in the outpatient setting is thought to be less, the prevention measures remain the same as the inpatient setting.
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Ensure the facility has a robust and standardized surveillance program for SSIs. The National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) Outpatient Procedure Component is developed for ASCs to standardize SSI definitions, risk-stratify data, and provide a national comparison.
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Audit practices in the operating room (OR) and sterile processing department (SPD) and provide feedback on opportunities identified. View the HAI IP Education webpage for audit and assessment tools.
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Involve providers and staff while reviewing SSIs to identify gaps and risk factors.
For additional assistance on SSI surveillance and prevention measures in the outpatient setting, or to set up an on-site assessment, please reach out to Jennifer Kuhn (jennifer.kuhn@dhs.wisconsin.gov), Ambulatory Infection Preventionist with the HAI Prevention Program.
Citations:
1. Costabella, F., Patel, K. B., Adepoju, A. V., Singh, P., Attia Hussein Mahmoud, H., Zafar, A., Patel, T., Watekar, N. A., Mallesh, N., Fawad, M., Sathyarajan, D. T., & Abbas, K. (2023). Healthcare Cost and Outcomes Associated With Surgical Site Infection and Patient Outcomes in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. Cureus, 15(7), e42493. https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.42493
2. Badia, J. M., Casey, A. L., Petrosillo, N., Hudson, P. M., Mitchell, S. A., Crosby, C. (2017). Impact of surgical site infection on healthcare costs and patient outcomes: a systematic review in six European countries. The Journal of hospital infection, 96(1), 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhin.2017.03.004
HAI Prevention Program highlights
In November, the HAI Prevention Program participated in U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week. Furthermore, Gov. Tony Evers proclaimed November 18–25, 2024 as Wisconsin Antibiotic Awareness Week. In recognition of the week, the HAI Program shared communication tools and action steps for health care partners as well as social media reminding all to be “antibiotic aware.” The HAI Program’s Antimicrobial Stewardship Coordinator, Dr. Lindsay Taylor, was even featured on a Wisconsin news station spreading the word!
It's important to remember that being “antibiotic aware” goes beyond Antibiotic Awareness Week! Visit our webpage for more information on antimicrobial stewardship!
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Knowledge check answer
True: All health care personnel should adhere to standard and droplet precautions and always wear a mask when entering the room of a suspect or confirmed pertussis case. In an inpatient setting, patients with suspect or confirmed pertussis should be placed on standard and droplet precautions until five days of the full course of antibiotic therapy have been completed.
Being prepared to care for a patient with pertussis helps reduce the risk of transmission to other patients and health care personnel. Visit the CDC webpage for more pertussis infection control recommendations.
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