Page 20 - Hoag Orthopedic Institute 2014 Outcomes Report

“IN LIGHT OF THE SERIOUS CHALLENGE HEALTHCARE ACQUIRED INFECTIONS POSE, HOI’S ACHIEVEMENT OF 60 PERCENT FEWER INFECTIONS THAN PREDICTED BY THE CDC IS WELCOME NEWS AND A REFLECTION OF THE PRIORITY WE PLACE ON INFECTION PREVENTION.” PHILIP ROBINSON, MD, INFECTION PREVENTION AND HOSPITAL EPIDEMIOLOGY
CLINICAL OUTCOMES AND INFECTION PREVENTION CONTINUED
INFECTION PREVENTION Q & A WITH PHILIP ROBINSON, MD
Philip Robinson, MD
Medical Director of Infection Prevention and Hospital Epidemiology
What are the best practices, leading to such low infection rates?
Dr. Robinson: “An ounce of prevention is worth
a pound of cure” is an axiom we live by at HOI. Infection prevention starts with the standardization of care. Using evidence-based practice our team has implemented several processes to reduce the risk of infection. For example, patient navigators start the infection prevention process a month before surgery, to assess each patient’s risk of infection. Patients are tested for MRSA,
a common drug resistant bacteria found in the community that increases the risk of infection. This gives us the opportunity to try and eliminate the MRSA before surgery.
Best practices include:
• Standardized prophylactic antibiotic
• Prior to surgery the inside of patients’ noses
are treated with a special antiseptic solution that reduces the patient’s risk of infection from organisms often found in the nose.
• Thoroughness of cleaning all patient rooms and the OR theater are verified by using a powder that only glows under black light. This powder is placed on several high-touch areas in the room prior to the room being cleaned. Before the room is released for patient use, a supervisor verifies with a black light that all of the powder was wiped away.
• Patients are kept warm throughout the perioperative period (the surgical phase of care), which reduces the risk of infection.
• We have achieved almost 100 percent compliance with hand washing to minimize the risk of infection. We also encourage patients to be part of the care team and ask their caregivers if they have washed their hands.
• All medical devices are removed as soon as they are no longer necessary to further reduce the chance of infection. For example, urinary catheters are removed within one to two days of surgery. HOI has not had a device-related infection in more than two years.
What else are you and the HOI team doing
to protect patients from infections?
Dr. Robinson: In addition to routine cleaning, HOI has purchased an ultra-violet light disinfection machine called the Xenex robot (see Innovations). The infection prevention team routinely monitors compliance with many best practices before surgery, during surgery and after surgery. We keep current with best practices by attending various infection prevention conferences, such
as the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA), and the Infectious Disease Society of America (IDSA).
We have made excellent progress to date, and continue to strive to eliminate healthcare acquired infections.
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