An innovative quality improvement approach for rapid improvement of infection prevention and control at health facilities in Sierra Leone.

QUALITY CHALLENGE: The Sierra Leone (SL) Ministry of Health and Sanitation's National Infection Prevention and Control Unit (NIPCU) launched National Infection and Prevention Control (IPC) Policy and Guidelines in 2015, but a 2017 assessment found suboptimal compliance with standards on environmental cleanliness (EC), waste disposal (WD) and personal protective equipment (PPE) use. METHODS: ICAP at Columbia University (ICAP), NIPCU and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) designed and implemented a Rapid Improvement Model (RIM) quality improvement (QI) initiative with a compressed timeframe of 6 months to improve EC, WD and PPE at eight purposively selected health facilities (HFs). Targets were collaboratively developed, and a 37-item checklist was designed to monitor performance. HF teams received QI training and weekly coaching and convened monthly to review progress and exchange best practices. At the final learning session, a "harvest package" of the most effective ideas and tools was developed for use at additional HFs. RESULTS: The RIM resulted in marked improvement in WD and EC performance and modest improvement in PPE. Aggregate compliance for the 37 indicators increased from 67 to 96% over the course of 4 months, with all HFs showing improvement. Average PPE compliance improved from 85 to 89%, WD from 63 to 99% and EC from 51 to 99%. LESSONS LEARNED: The RIM QIC approach is feasible and effective in SL's austere health system and led to marked improvement in IPC performance. The best practices are being scaled up and the RIM QIC methodology is being applied to other domains.

Environmental service workers as potential designers of infection control policy in long-term care settings.

BACKGROUND: Long-term care facility residents are at higher risk of methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infection and colonization than the general population. In 2009, the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA) implemented the "methicillin-resistant S. aureus prevention initiative" in long-term care facilities (ie, Community Living Centers or "CLCs"). METHODS: Over 4 months, 40 semistructured interviews were conducted with staff in medicine, nursing, and environmental services at 5 geographically dispersed CLCs. Interviews addressed knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs concerning infection prevention and resident-centered care. A modified constant comparative approach was used for data analysis. RESULTS: In CLCs, staff work to prevent and control infections in spaces where residents live. Nurses and Environmental Service Workers daily balance infection prevention conventions with the CLC setting. Infection control team members, who are accustomed to working in acute care settings, struggle to reconcile the CLC context with infection prevention. DISCUSSION: The focus on the resident's room as the locus of care, and thus the main target of infection control, misses opportunities for addressing infection prevention in the spaces beyond the residents' rooms. CONCLUSIONS: Environmental Service Workers' daily work inside the rooms and within the wider facility produces a unique perspective that might help in the design of workable infection control policies in CLCs.

Profile of environmental service managers and workers in Brazilian hospitals.

INTRODUCTION: Contamination through the hands of professionals and surfaces is one of the main agents involved in health care-associated infections in health services. Flaws in the execution of hospital housekeeping can lead to the contamination of surfaces and health equipment though, representing a risk for patient safety and highlighting the need to maximize the quality of cleaning processes in these institutions. OBJECTIVE: To describe the profile of managers and environmental service workers (ESWs) in Brazilian hospitals. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was undertaken in January 2018, involving 155 participants, being 12 managers and 143 workers from the housekeeping team of two health institutions, being one private and the other public. RESULTS: Most participants were female (86%), with a mean age of 45 years and primary education level, 52% being outsourced workers. The participants positively assessed their job satisfaction, satisfaction with training, basic knowledge and performance; nevertheless, situations were identified that were perceived as risks for patient safety and occupational health. The questions involving motivational incentives received the lowest scores. CONCLUSION: Inconsistencies were found in the housekeeping professionals'. Preparation, indicating that the institutions studied do not value this type of service and that an investment policy in these workers' motivation is lacking.

Bed Tracking Systems: Do They Help Address Challenges in Finding Available Inpatient Beds?

OBJECTIVE: Locating open beds in hospital and residential mental health and substance use disorder treatment settings has been an ongoing challenge in the United States. The inability to find open beds has contributed to long emergency department wait times and missed opportunities to engage patients in treatment. Increasingly, states are creating online bed tracking systems to improve access to timely information about bed availability. This study aimed to document how states are implementing bed tracking systems, their successes and challenges, and lessons learned. METHODS: A review was conducted of the published and gray literature available between 2008 and 2018, and 13 interviews were conducted with 18 stakeholders in five states (Connecticut, Iowa, Kansas, Massachusetts, and Virginia). RESULTS: The authors identified 17 states with bed tracking systems, of which five make information available to consumers. Most interviewees reported that the bed tracking systems were improving the ability of providers and consumers to more readily locate openings. Challenges identified included that some hospitals will not participate in bed registries, data on bed availability is sometimes not timely enough, bed registries do not provide enough detail on whether the facility is capable of meeting a particular patient's needs, providers have not been coached to use the bed registry system and continue existing practices, and states that provide information to the public have not publicized the registry's existence. CONCLUSIONS: Bed tracking systems offer promise, but more needs to be done to understand how to realize their potential and to more widely implement lessons learned.

Compared efficiency of trauma versus scheduled orthopaedic surgery operating rooms in a university hospital.

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study was to contribute to an OR efficiency optimisation effort by comparing a trauma OR versus a scheduled surgery OR in a lower limb orthopaedic surgery department. HYPOTHESIS: The main hypothesis is that efficiency is lower in the trauma OR than in the scheduled surgery OR. The secondary hypothesis is that efficiency of the trauma OR is lower during weekends. MATERIAL AND METHODS: This prospective study was conducted in 2016 in the orthopaedic surgery department of a university hospital. Patients were divided into three groups based on whether they underwent scheduled surgery (SchOS), trauma surgery on a weekday (TSwk), or trauma surgery on a weekend (TSwkend). Actual OR occupancy time, allocated OR block time (BT), OR occupancy rate, patient entrance-to-incision time, incision-to-closure time, closure-to-post-anaesthesia care unit (PACU) entrance time, and clean-up/set-up time (T4) were measured. RESULTS: We included 691 patients in the SchOS group, 819 in the TSwk group, and 327 in the TSwkend group. OR efficiency was lower in the TSwk group compared to the SchOS group (occupancy rate, 86% vs. 88%; p=10-4). All occupancy time components were longer in the TSwk group. However, each component accounted for similar total occupancy time proportions in the two groups, except for clean-up/set-up time, which was longer in the TSwk group (p<0.05). On average, entrance-to-incision time accounted for 31%, incision-to-closure time for 34%, closure-to-PACU time for 18%, and clean-up/set-up time for 17% of total occupancy time. Efficiency was lower in the TSwkend group than in the TSwk group (occupancy rate, 75% vs. 86%; p=10-4). The TSwkend group had shorter entrance-to-incision and incision-to-closure times (p<0.05) and a nearly 10% longer clean-up/set-up time (p<0.05). CONCLUSION: Efficiency of the trauma OR, although lower compared to the scheduled orthopaedic surgery OR, was nevertheless satisfactory as assessed based on standard indicators. Of the four total occupancy time components, the first three accounted for similar proportions of the total; differences occurred only for clean-up/set-up time. Efforts to improve OR efficiency should focus on arrival of the first patient and turnover time. LEVEL OF EVIDENCE: II, prospective cohort study.

Influencia del material promocional sobre higiene de manos en la cultura de seguridad de un hospital de tercer nivel / Influence of promotional material on hand hygiene in the safety culture of a tertiary hospital

Con el objetivo de incrementar la cultura de seguridad en relación con la higiene de manos en el Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Insular Materno-Infantil a través de la presencia de recordatorios y mensajes en todo el centro sobre la importancia de la higiene de manos en la prevención de infecciones, hemos desarrollado nuevo material promocional en el mencionado Complejo Hospitalario, formado por el Hospital Universitario Insular y el Hospital Materno-Infantil, ambos centros de tercer nivel con 450 camas cada uno y acreditados para la docencia MIR. Se contrataron los servicios de un caricaturista profesional, que adaptó el lenguaje a los modismos locales, usando los personajes que habitualmente aparecen en las viñetas del periódico y se siguió trabajando con otros profesionales del diseño gráfico. Se midieron los indicadores de adherencia y consumo de productos de base alcohólica, constatándose un incremento de ambos en los meses posteriores a la implantación de la estrategia. Además se hizo una revisión de infraestructuras relacionadas con la higiene de manos, con lo que comprobamos una clara mejoría en la mayoría de las áreas asistenciales. El material fue muy bien acogido por parte de los profesionales. No se realizó ninguna otra intervención distinta de las habituales, por lo que pensamos que esta estrategia está mejorando la cultura de seguridad en relación con la higiene de manos en nuestros centros (AU)

In order to increase safety culture about hand hygiene by means of messages and reminders about its importance in preventing nosocomial infections, we developed a new set of materials in the Complejo Hospitalario Universitario Insular Materno-Infantil of Las Palmas, Gran Canaria, constitued by two centres with 450 beds each and acredited for medical internal residents training. We hired a well-known caricaturist, who adapted the messages to the local way of speaking, by using characters that used to appear in his artwork in the local newspaper. Also, we continued to work with other graphic design professionals. We monitored adherence and consumption of products for hand rubbing. We noted an increase in both indicators in the following months after the implementation of this strategy. Moreover, we revised the infrastructures for hand hygiene, and were able to demonstrate improvements in most of the patient care areas. The material was well accepted by professionals, patients and visitors. No other interventions were made, so we think improvements can be attributable to this strategy in our setting (AU)

Assessment of contamination using an ATP bioluminescence assay on doorknobs in a university-affiliated hospital in Japan.

BACKGROUND: Doorknobs are inevitable points of hand contact. We monitored doorknob contamination in a university hospital using an ATP bioluminescence assay and stamp agar method. We selected grip-, lever-, push-, insert-, and two-pull-type doorknobs in staff lavatories and break rooms, a linen closet, dirty utility rooms, a newborn care unit, clinical lavatories and examination rooms, dressing rooms for radiological tests, and lavatories for health examination, as monitoring points in wards and clinics. Sequential monitoring with an ATP assay (six times) and culture (once) were performed at the same time of day in autumn, winter, and summer. We provided contamination data to appropriate healthcare providers and housekeepers, and queried the staff regarding decontamination of doorknobs. RESULTS: When comparing ATP values on the same type of doorknobs, significant differences in contamination were demonstrated among several clinical rooms and several rooms in wards during all three seasons. No correlation was observed between ATP values on clinical-examination-room doorknobs and outpatient numbers, or between ATP values at any monitoring point and microbial colony-forming units. ATP values on clinical-examination-room doorknobs were reduced after cleaning according to instructions. CONCLUSIONS: ATP assay is useful for measuring baseline doorknob contamination in clinical rooms. Our findings confirm the need to improve routine decontamination in clinical departments. We need to analyze further the relationship between hospital-acquired infections and doorknob contamination, as assessed by ATP assay in clinics.

Working relationships of infection prevention and control programs and environmental services and associations with antibiotic-resistant organisms in Canadian acute care hospitals.

BACKGROUND: Environmental contamination in hospitals with antibiotic-resistant organisms (AROs) is associated with patient contraction of AROs. This study examined the working relationship of Infection Prevention and Control (IPAC) and Environmental Services and the impact of that relationship on ARO rates. METHODS: Lead infection control professionals completed an online survey that assessed the IPAC and Environmental Services working relationship in their acute care hospital in 2011. The survey assessed cleaning collaborations, staff training, hospital cleanliness, and nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection, vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus (VRE) infection, and Clostridium difficile infection (CDI). RESULTS: The survey was completed by 58.3% of hospitals (119 of 204). Two-thirds (65.8%; 77 of 117) of the respondents reported that their cleaners were adequately trained, and 62.4% (73 of 117) reported that their hospital was sufficiently clean. Greater cooperation between IPAC and Environmental Services was associated with lower rates of MRSA infection (r = -0.22; P = .02), and frequent collaboration regarding cleaning protocols was associated with lower rates of VRE infection (r = -0.20; P = .03) and CDI (r = -0.31; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS: Canadian IPAC programs generally had collaborative working relationships with Environmental Services, and this was associated with lower rates of ARO. Deficits in the adequacy of cleaning staff training and hospital cleanliness were identified. The promotion of collaborative working relationships and additional training for Environmental Services workers would be expected to lower ARO rates.