Each year more than one million patients receive cancer treatment in an outpatient oncology clinic. Despite advances in oncology care, infections from both community and health care settings remain a major cause of hospitalization and death among cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. To help protect this vulnerable patient population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is launching a new program featuring tools to help both clinicians and patients prevent infections and hospital infections.

CDC’s Preventing Infections in Cancer Patients program is a comprehensive initiative focusing on providing information, action steps, and tools for patients, their families, and their health care providers to reduce the risk of life-threatening infections during chemotherapy treatment. These resources include an interactive website (http://www.preventcancerinfections.org) for cancer patients and caregivers, as well as a Basic Infection Control and Prevention Plan for use by outpatient oncology settings.

Preventing Infections in Cancer Patients was developed by oncology and infection prevention experts from CDC in partnership with external experts and the CDC Foundation.

SOURCE:  Oct. 25, 2011 PRNewswire-USNewswire

Infection preventionists, policy makers, patient safety advocates, healthcare professionals, administrators and consumers will join the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), in collaboration with its global partners, in commemorating International Infection Prevention Week (IIPW), October 16-22. Nearly 30 associations and societies and half of all U.S. states have signed on to support IIPW, broadening the reach and scope of this event, under the theme of “infection prevention is everyone’s business.” IIPW brings greater attention to the importance of infection prevention and educating the healthcare community about infection control products.

The 2011 commemoration features a policy summit on October 19 in Washington, DC hosted by APIC and the National Journal. The summit, which will be webcast live and archived, will feature a panel discussion with policy experts focusing on the resources necessary to eliminate preventable infections, how healthcare reform efforts can improve outcomes for patients, and the important role of hospital infection preventionists.

APIC will also offer a series of webinars for health professionals on current infection prevention topics. APIC’s 2011 IIPW program is made possible with support from the Signature Sponsor, 3M Health Care, in the form of an unrestricted educational grant. Visit APIC for more information.

Soure: http://www.apic.org/Content/NavigationMenu/Education/InfectionPreventionWeek/2011InternationalInfectionPreventionWeek/IIPW_2011.htm

Health & Medicine Week; October 10, 2011

According to the authors of recent research from Hershey, Pennsylvania, “Long-term central venous catheterization is associated with a higher rate of catheter-related blood stream infections (CR-BSI). It is unclear whether there is a difference in the CRBSI rate associated with central venous catheters (CVCs) and peripherally inserted central catheters (PICCs) in long-stay patients in surgical intensive care units (SICUs).”

The researchers hypothesized that PICC use reduces the rate of CR-BSI compared with use of antiseptic CVCs in these patients. In this non-randomized study, PICC was associated with fewer CRBSIs in long-stay SICU patients, although CVCs were in place longer than PICC lines. “The only predictor of CVC infection was the duration the line was in place,” wrote M. Gunst and colleagues, Pennsylvania State College.

The researchers concluded: “These results suggest that minimizing the duration of central venous access and substituting PICC for CVC may reduce the incidence of CRBSI in long-stay SICU patients.”

Gunst and colleagues published their study in Surgical Infections (Peripherally Inserted Central Catheters May Lower the Incidence of Catheter-Related Blood Stream Infections in Patients in Surgical Intensive Care Units. Surgical Infections, 2011;12(4):279-282). For additional information, contact M. Gunst, Pennsylvania State College of Medical, Division Trauma Acute Care & Critical Care Surgery, Penn State Milton S Hershey Med Center, Hershey, PA 17033, United States.

Preidt, HealthDay, 10/7; Nurse.com, 10/9; AHRQ release, 10/6.

Septicemia was the most costly medical condition treated in U.S. hospitals in 2009, costing about $15.4 billion, according to a recent Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) report.

The illness is caused by bloodstream infection with bacteria such as E. coli and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). According to the report, the number of hospital stays for septicemia more than doubled from 337,100 in 2000 to 836,000 in 2009. The condition in 2009 was the sixth most-common primary cause of hospital admission nationwide, the report said. In addition, the report found that in-hospital septicemia death rate was 16% in 2009, more than eight times that of other hospital stays. One in five septicemia stays were caused by complications from medical devices, catheters, implants, or grafts.

Link: http://www.hcup-us.ahrq.gov/reports/statbriefs/sb122.pdf

Hauck K, Zhao X. Med Care. 2011 Sep 23.

Despite extensive research into adverse events, there is no quantitative estimate for the risk of experiencing adverse events such as hospital-acquired infections per day spent in hospital. This is important information for hospital managers, because they may consider discharging patients earlier to alternative care providers if this is associated with lower risk, but other costs and benefits are similar. Researchers modeled adverse events as a function of patient risk factors, hospital fixed effects, and length of stay using administrative hospital episode data for 206,489 medical inpatients. They found that a hospital stay carries a 17.6% risk of hospital-acquired infection, and that each additional night in hospital increases the risk by 1.6% for infections. The researchers conclude that instead of discharging patients early to alternative care, it would be more desirable to address underlying causes of adverse events.

USA Today (September 20, 2011) featured an article about hospital infection rates.

The story explored the experience of Cheri Stout-Robinson was hospitalized for treatment of flesh-eating bacteria after being admitted to the hospital to deliver her baby by C-section.

USA Today reported that one out of every 20 hospitalized patients would contract hospital-acquired infections according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Nearly 100,000 die each year from these hospital infections; that number has leveled off after 15 or 20 years of rising. A 2009 CDC report estimated that hospital costs for treating infections spread in health care settings was up to $45 billion a year.

More than 60% of doctors’ and nurses’ uniforms tested at a hospital harbored potentially dangerous bacteria, reports an Israeli study published Aug. 31. And Cleveland researchers found that health care workers’ gloved hands were just as apt to become contaminated with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, after touching infected patients’ call buttons as after touching their abdomens.

Link: http://yourlife.usatoday.com/health/healthcare/story/2011-09-19/War-on-hospital-infections-drags-on/50470390/1

Morning Call (Allentown, PA); September 18, 2011

Lehighton woman sued St. Luke’s Miners Memorial Home Care after a catheter-related bloodstream infection led to double amputation. A Lehigh County jury Friday awarded $23 million to a Lehighton woman who lost her legs to a bloodsteam infection while being cared for by a St. Luke’s Hospital and Health Network nurse. The medical malpractice verdict is among the highest ever in the county. It came after attorneys for 55-year-old Sharlee Ann Smoyer argued that her home-care nurse failed to address a bacteria-infected catheter, leading to a bloodstream infection that resulted in sepsis that nearly killed Smoyer in 2008.

Link: http://breakinglawsuitnews.com/lehigh-county-jury-awards-23-million-over-amputation/

Hospital Peer Review; September 1, 2011

According to a September 2011 article in the Hospital Peer Review there have been nearly 200 studies about central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) published since the start of 2011.Many of them talk about similar methods for reducing hospital infection rates — using kits and bundles, putting up posters to remind providers of protocols and pathways, or giving clinicians pocket reminder cards. But with an increased emphasis on hospital-acquired infections evident in Medicare rules, finding novel approaches to reduce infections like CLABSI has taken on new urgency.

The author highlights recent efforts that have shown new ways to achieve spectacular effects — in one case leading to nearly six months without a single CLABSI case including efforts at the University of Maryland Medical Center. The hospital implemented a central line insertion bundle and enforced a zero-tolerance policy for breaches in hand hygiene and isolation precautions, and that needleless I.V. access ports were scrubbed for 15 seconds with 70% alcohol prior to use.

The results were better than anyone expected: For 25 weeks, there were no central-line infections. Since that streak was broken, another streak of 15 weeks without hospital infections has developed.

For more information on contact: Cindy Rew, RN, BSN, nurse manager, Surgical Intensive Care Unit, and Michael Anne Preas, RN, BSN, CIC, infection control specialist, University of Maryland Medical Center, Baltimore, MD. Telephone: (410) 328-8667.

An estimated 1.7 million HAIs (4.5 infections per 100 hospital admissions) occurred in the United States in 2002, resulting in nearly 100,000 deaths. Catheter-related bloodstream infections, most of which are associated with central venous catheters, account for 11% of all HAIs. This review covers the epidemiology, pathogenesis, and prevention of catheter-related bloodstream infections based on recent literature and clinical guidelines.

Download to read this article in PDF document:
Catheter-related Bloodstream Infections

States News Service; August 1, 2011

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services issued a final rule on the inpatient and long-term care hospital prospective payment systems for fiscal year 2012. The final rule implements a cut to the inpatient PPS of 2.0%, which represents $1.2 billion more in payments to hospitals in FY 2012 compared to the proposed rule. The final rule also implements a long term care hospital (LTCH) pay-for-reporting program beginning in October 2012, and a 2% payment penalty for non-reporting beginning in October 2013, for three quality measures: catheter-associated urinary tract infection, catheter-associated bloodstream infections, and new or worsening pressure ulcers.