INFECTION PREVENTION Trust
infection ratio (SIR) was within our bench- marks,” said Sturm. “With this calculator we can apply analytics to determine where most of these infections are occurring tak- ing into account a number of factors. If one hospital had a high number of infections during that time - let’s say 10 – we could work with that hospital in a focused review to bring down the entire health system’s CLABSI SIR.”
Collaboration With actionable analytics in hand, Sturm built an infrastructure to support collabora- tion among IP teams across the health sys- tem, which is comprised of about 160 IP staff members. She helped build an internal web- site and chat forum and set up a national IP community call that is regularly attended by more than 100 infection preventionists. With a “bird’s eye view” to HAIs across the health system, Sturm uses these calls to share best practices, offer IP teams resources on the system level, and connect teams with one another. “For example, if there is an Ascension hospital in one market that has a high CLABSI rates but low CAUTI rates, and another hospital in a different market with low CLABSI rates and high CAUTI rates, I use these calls to make the connection and encourage them to meet and share best practices with one another for mutual improvement,” said Sturm.
Sturm and her project manager records
the calls and they share the recordings with attendees, along with her slide decks. Because call participants use the chat box feature to ask questions, Sturm saves these questions in a document, along with her answers, and sends this “chat box Q&A” to attendees, which was particularly helpful during COVID-19
Sturm said trust is a critical component of the system-wide IP program’s success. Because IP teams are encouraged to be transparent with their challenges related to HAIs, they must trust that Sturm has their best interests at heart. “They have to know that I have their backs, I’m not going to betray their trans- parency, but rather appreciate their chal- lenges and honesty and will provide the support they need,” said Sturm. “I remind them every day that we are a family and work together for the common goal of reducing infections.” Under Sturm’s leadership, Ascension
has recorded decreases in multiple HAIs. To address high CLABSI rates, she led a multidisciplinary team that standardized the placement and care of lines, creating a guideline for best prac- tices, established competencies, and part- nered with frontline teams, resulting in a 38% reduction in CLABSI over a three-year period prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.
A united front against COVID-19 When COVID-19 hit the U.S. in early 2020, Sturm’s program enabled IPs from across Ascension to mount a standardized, effec- tive and efficient response to the pandemic. The national IP community calls, which previously took place once per quarter, became weekly events where she would share updates with stakeholders from across all the hospitals and they would collaborate on solutions. “We had all the core components in place for a nationwide IP response when COVID hit, we just had to flip the subject matter,” said Sturm. “The weekly calls became so popular that attendance grew beyond IP teams and out to other key stakeholders,
including clinical leaders and staff mem- bers from various departments. We had hundreds of people on these calls at one point.” The calls continue to this day meet- ing bi-weekly providing real time updates on the COVID-19 response plan, as well as other IP updates.
Next steps
It has been well documented and pub- lished that HAIs across the world increased in the face of the pandemic. Research and strategies are now in place at Ascension to address these increases, learn from the experience, and put into place reduction and prevention strategies for the future going forward. Sturm is confident that the infrastructure, teamwork and collab- orative spirit that is already in place for Ascension’s Infection Prevention program will prime it for on-going success to endure not only this pandemic, but any future ones that may come along.
Competency-based training sets up hospital for COVID management success The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has long supported state health departments in assessing infection prevention practices and guiding quality improvement activities in U.S. hospitals through its Infection Control Assessment Tools.1
In late 2018, the IP team at Tampa
General Hospital (TGH) in Tampa, Fla., invited the Florida Department of Health to conduct an infection control risk assess- ment survey of its facilities to identify and address any gaps in IP protocols and practices. Coming out of the survey, the Florida Department of Health surveyors
Tampa General Infection Prevention team 34 March 2022 • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS •
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