infection prevention
infection prevention
By Teri Hulett, RN, BSN, CIC, FAPIC
Making the Business Case by Telling Your Story
The goal is to develop a story— a presentation that tells your work’ s story and not only informs your audience but engages and inspires your audience to support the ongoing demands of your work to prevent healthcareassociated infections( HAIs) leading to improved patient outcomes, shortened lengths of stay, and eliminates potential decreased reimbursement because of HAIs.”
Infection preventionists
( IPs) have forever been expected to do more with less. The legendary motto is that infection prevention is a non-revenue generating department, it has no budget. When requesting additional support, either manpower or equipment( technology or devices), the common response is a suggestion to develop a business case and present it to the board – the target group who can support, approve, and move forward IPs’ requests. Sometimes we forget our audience reaches beyond the executive leaders within our facilities to include those at the bedside. Knowing your audience is key and disseminating the infection prevention and control( IP & C) work to all vested parties is central to obtaining and maintaining buy-in. We have been taught that how you develop your business case will be different if in a large system consisting of varied patient settings( inpatient, outpatient, acute versus rehab, etc.) where we present to the C-suite versus a rural facility that includes acutecare and post-acute care settings on the same campus where you may be presenting to administrators. We forget that we need to disseminate results( outcomes) to the unit level – those performing the work to improve patient safety and outcomes. The question I found posing to myself was should the business case really change depending on the size and scope of facility or audience to which you will present?
The goal is to develop a story— a presentation that tells your work’ s story and not only informs your audience but engages and inspires your audience to support the ongoing demands of your work to prevent healthcare-associated infections( HAIs) leading to improved patient outcomes, shortened lengths of stay, and eliminates potential decreased reimbursement because of HAIs. I like to keep it simple, making the data easily digestible.
I discovered infection prevention when the neonatal ICU( NICU) I worked in was dealing with two separate multidrug-resistant organism( MDRO) outbreaks. As a charge nurse, I worked closely with the IP assigned to the NICU. After the outbreaks ended, I was encouraged to apply for the open IP position, which I did, and was subsequently offered the job. Working in a large, regional referral academic medical center on a 50-bed unit that was a revenue generator, then moving to a department that was non-revenue generating was a culture shock. I understood we had no budget, but I knew our work was producing positive outcomes that had to be impactful at some level. I was determined to find a way
to tell our story. We were good at producing data, taking raw data and putting it into a graph and sharing at Infection Control Committee( ICC) meetings and disseminating to unit managers on a quarterly basis. What I didn’ t know is if the information was getting to the bedside caregivers who were doing the work.
After being in the IP & C department a few years and having multiple units for which I was responsible, I decided to take a deeper look at the data being produced – to look from cumulative perspective. I had been dedicated to four adult ICUs and the NICU. I looked at the data over time – specifically the first three years of my work with these units; I had committed time on the unit to work with staff— educate on basic IP & C principles including hand hygiene and multiple Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality( AHRQ) bundles developed to prevent infections. I reinforced compliance with the bundles and developed a facility-wide IP & C Champion Committee supported by the director of nursing( DON). This was an opportunity to develop an IP-focused sphere of influence on each unit. The committee structure was mandated by the DON to include a minimum of one champion from each unit / department including nursing, radiology, laboratory, environmental services, pharmacy, etc. It was an opportunity to educate
When presenting, remember the executives’ time is in high demand. They need to know why IP & C is important, outcomes recognized because of the IP & C work, and what the IP needs to continue being successful in keeping patients and staff safe.”
monthly on IP & C practices, at a facility-wide level, the impact each hospital employee has in preventing infections, complications, and unnecessary costs to the patient and facility should a patient develop an HAI. This was an opportunity to share unit-level work being done that resulted in decreased patient harm and improved patient outcomes.
I needed to tell the story in simple terms using an easily digestible format. I outlined each bundle element, the data when I started covering the unit,
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