Basic infection control practices must be hardwired into practice so that they are less vulnerable when the health care system is stressed .”
to better infection prevention ,” said Tara N . Palmore , MD , and David K . Henderson , MD , of the National Institutes of Health , in an editorial that accompanied the study . “ The success of the previous several years , with steady declines in rates of these ( healthcare-associated ) and device-related infections , further accentuated the upswings that occurred in 2020 .”
The study found that two other types of infection remained steady or declined during COVID-19 . Surgical-site infections rates did not increase as fewer elective surgeries were performed , largely in operating rooms with uninterrupted infection control processes that were separate from COVID wards . In addition , no increase was found in Clostridioides difficile . The study said lower rates of C . diff may be a result of increased focus on hand hygiene , environmental cleaning , patient isolation , and use of personal protective equipment .
“ Basic infection control practices must be hardwired into practice so that they are less vulnerable when the health care system is stressed ,” the editorial concluded , “ One approach might be to designate clinical staff to be added to the hospital epidemiology team to allow for rapid expansion of effort to support a pandemic response .”
As we know , HAIs can often be prevented through careful monitoring and safety protocols overseen by infection preventionists , but only when there are sufficient resources and trained personnel in place to support these efforts .
“ For the U . S . to create a safer , more resilient healthcare system , policymakers should make the substantial investments recommended by the hands-on infection prevention experts who had a unique vantage point as the pandemic overwhelmed hospitals , nursing homes and clinics nationwide ,” says Dickey .
“ We need to build capacity so we can surge when we need to ,” says APIC ’ s CEO Devin Jopp , EdD , MS . “ I won ’ t sugarcoat it ; fortifying our nation ’ s IPC infrastructure isn ’ t free , but the cost of ill-preparedness in lives and dollars is incalculable .”
To help healthcare facilities assess their IP & C capacity , APIC is launching a new campaign called HAI Fast Forward : Accelerating HAI Prevention . It will include a series of initiatives to help organizations make headway in reducing their HAIs back to pre-pandemic levels .
Other organizations are responding to the call for addressing post-pandemic capacity needs . The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America ( SHEA ) says it agrees with the call to rebuild a resilient patient safety culture in U . S . healthcare institutions that came in late February from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) and the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services in The New England Journal of Medicine .
As SHEA explains , “ The pandemic response has led to burnout and staffing shortages , which have compounded the challenges associated with maintaining culture of safety in healthcare settings . Addressing these realities and creating a patient safety culture that values the critical role of healthcare personnel is essential to building a stronger future for healthcare-associated infection prevention . We are now faced with a pivotal opportunity for healthcare leaders to take lessons learned from the COVID-19 pandemic to rebuild better systems of care for healthcare-associated infections that can be managed during outbreaks and other crises impacting healthcare .”
SHEA has been updating education and expert guidance to incorporate lessons learned from COVID-19 into the next generation of infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship programs . We look forward to working across government agencies , healthcare systems and patient advocacy groups to refocus on healthcare-associated infection prevention with an emphasis on more sustainable responses post-pandemic .”
Also in a statement issued in February , APIC said it was calling for healthcare organizations to assess their infection prevention capacity and strengthen prevention programs by adding personnel , resources , and training to support both infection prevention and surge capacity for future pandemics .
In the statement , 2022 APIC president Linda Dickey , RN , MPH , CIC , FAPIC , had stated , “ The CDC reports that healthcare-associated infections increased significantly during 2020 , reversing years of progress . The current pandemic illustrates that our healthcare facilities are not where they need to be in terms of infection prevention and patient safety . Facility-wide infection prevention programs are critical and require adequately staffed , trained , and resourced infection prevention and control departments . We must bolster our infection prevention and control staff capacity in our system of healthcare to simultaneously manage HAIs and future pandemics .”
Dickey added , “ This is not the time to ask infection prevention teams to do more with less . It is the time for investment in the infection prevention and control infrastructure in our nation ’ s healthcare facilities so that basic infection control practices can be hardwired into processes of care . Our hospitals need more infection preventionists . Infection preventionists serve as a critical line of defense in preventing and responding to infections and integrating evidence-based strategies to limit their spread . It ’ s essential that hospitals , clinics , and long-term care facilities have enough infection preventionists to train staff and monitor safety protocols so that dangerous pathogens do not spread and lead to infection .”
She continued , “ APIC calls on federal and state governments to provide funding to help support healthcare facilities across the continuum of care to ensure that there is adequate surge capacity so that infection prevention and control measures will endure when stressed by future pandemics and disease outbreaks . We can ’ t let the lessons learned from COVID-19 go to waste . Building stronger infection prevention programs throughout healthcare will not only improve our ability to protect the public during future pandemics but will simultaneously improve patient safety . To help healthcare facilities assess their infection prevention capacity , APIC is launching a new campaign called HAI Fast Forward : Accelerating HAI Prevention , which will include a series of webinars and other resources available to help organizations make headway in reducing their HAIs back to pre-pandemic levels .”
References :
Palmore TN and Henderson DK . Healthcare-Associated Infections in the Time of Pandemic COVID-19 . Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology . Web ( Aug . 25 , 2021 ).
Weiner-Lastinger LM , et al . The impact of COVID-19 on healthcare-associated infections in 2020 ; A summary of data reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network . Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology . Web ( Aug . 25 , 2021 ).