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Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI)
HAIs exact a significant toll on human life. According to the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), they are among the leading causes of death in the United States, accounting for an estimated 1.7 million infections and 99,000 associated deaths in 2002.
In addition to the human suffering, the financial burden attributed to these infections is enormous. In 2009, the CDC estimated that HAIs added $28 to $33 billion to annual healthcare costs in the United States. The CDC further stated that Central Line Associated Blood Infections (CLABSI), Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI), Surgical Site Infections (SSI), Clostridium difficile Infections (CDI), ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), and Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) comprise the largest categories of HAIs.
Catheter Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTI)
Masspro’s improvement strategies focus on employing Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP) in both ICU and non-ICU settings. We involve front-line, multi-disciplinary teams and offer solutions to overcome challenges which include strategies for adoption and use of evidence-based tools for CAUTI prevention.
Surgical Site Infections (SSI)
Masspro’s work on the prevention of SSIs focuses on promoting evidence-based tools, as developed by the CDC and Hospital Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC), and the tracking of post-operative infections. Masspro encourages providers to adopt the universal utilization of evidence-based SSI prevention tools through the formation of interdisciplinary SSI prevention teams.
Tracking post-operative infection rates has been a challenge for hospital infection preventionists because more than half of SSIs are not identified until patients are discharged from the hospital. Masspro offers tools and process improvement strategies for post discharge infection surveillance. In addition, we introduce processes to facilitate communication between healthcare providers, across the care continuum, to improve SSI tracking data.
Clostridium difficile Infections (CDI)
Masspro has partnered with the Massachusetts Hospital Association and the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors for its CDI initiative. We work with multi-disciplinary teams that have broad representation and use the evidence-based Clinical Practice Guidelines for Clostridium difficile by SHEA, and the infection prevention measures for healthcare workers, patients, and visitors, from the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA).
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