The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America has updated its "Strategies to Prevent Clostridium difficile Infections in Acute Care Hospitals" expert guidance document. The updates were published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
C. diff severity is reportedly growing, and inpatient C. diff infection costs are estimated to be between approximately $3,000 and $15,000 per episode, according to the expert guidance document.
Here are eight strategies for preventing C. diff infections.
1. Appropriately use antimicrobials by paying attention to proper dosing and avoiding exposure to unnecessary antimicrobials.
2. Use contact precautions for infected patients to reduce patient-to-patient transmission. The guidance suggests place infecting patients in private rooms, wearing adequate protective clothing like gowns and gloves, use patient care equipment dedicated to infected patients and follow proper hand hygiene protocols.
3. Clean and disinfect all equipment and environment infected patients are housed in, including furnishings, patient care equipment and surfaces. Develop and implement disinfection protocols.
4. Implement a laboratory-based alert system to immediately notify clinicians of newly diagnosed patients.
5. Conduct C. diff infection surveillance, and report and analyze C. diff data.
6. Educate all healthcare workers about C. diff infections, noting risk factors, routes of transmission, patient treatment and outcomes, prevention measures and local infection epidemiology.
7. Educate patients and their families on C. diff infections when appropriate. Doing so may help reduce fears about being placed in isolation.
8. Measure compliance with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention or World Health Organization hand hygiene protocols and contact precaution recommendations.
For the full expert guidance document on the severity of C. diff and more recommendations on identifying, surveying, preventing and reducing infections, please click here.
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