The top-performing healthcare organizations
recognize the need to not only reduce the cost
of care for the patient but understand the
connection to reducing variation in practice and
products and proper utilization to improve
patient outcomes.” — Gloria Graham
needs, whether it’s hand hygiene or sterile technique,”
says Babcock. “One thing I find the most helpful in trying
to examine the literature around different products and
technologies is to look at the outcome that the studies
measured, and the value of those outcomes. For example,
many studies examine the decrease in the contamination
on a surface, but that doesn’t necessarily tie back to actual
decreases in infections in patients. It costs more to conduct
studies that use outcomes data, but those are the outcomes
that we really care about when it comes to HAI prevention
and control. So, I think it is important to stay focused on those
outcomes instead of proxy measures that are in between the
intervention and the outcome that we really care about.”
ECRI’s Davis says clinicians and IPs help their hospital
leadership create an infection prevention-focused value
analysis by helping the committee see the value or costs
associated with a product.
“For example, imagine if you brought in a very expensive
surgical instrument, but no one asked about the instructions
for use, and it was determined that the instrumentation
had to be sterilized with ETO, and the facility did not have
that capability,” Davis says. “That would be a huge issue
and waste of money. In terms of value analysis, having an
infection preventionist at the table can aid in understanding
the ‘soft’ cost savings (savings that may not be evident to
finance directly). For example, the IP brings in a new wound
dressing technology, and it is expensive. The IP can help set
up a pre- and post-intervention study, utilize comparative
effectiveness research, and determine whether the dressing
benefits patients and saves costs.”
Babcock advises clinicians and IPs to follow the institution’s
defined process for products and technologies that are to
be evaluated within a facility.
“It’s a matter of finding the people who are in charge
of that process, approaching them and saying, ‘Honestly, it
will save you time if you talk to me first or if you involve me
early in these discussions,’” she says. “I don’t think most
purchasing agents are trying to avoid infection prevention
input, but they may not always know when they should
get it; so, staying connected to that process is the best
approach. We know there are still times when vendors will
bring in something new without clinicians and IPs realizing
it. I think to the extent that the infection preventionists are
out on the floors making observations with frontline staff
can help. So, staying connected to the formal process is
important but also getting out there and keeping those
relationships among staff relationships helps support that
process as well.”
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www.healthcarehygienemagazine.com • february 2020
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