INFECTION PREVENTION
recommended TGH institute a compe- tency-based training program around hand hygiene, disinfection (of equipment and the environment) and the proper donning and doffing of personal protective equip- ment (PPE).
“We had been performing education-
based training for clinical staff for years around these three areas but didn’t always address the competency piece,” said imberly Atrubin, MPH, CIC, CPH, FAPIC, TH’s Director of Infection Prevention. “With the addition of the annual competency-based training pro- gram, clinicians would be required to both learn the skills and demonstrate them.” In early 21, Atrubin and her nine-per-
son team rolled out the complete training program to TH’s clinical staff members, and the hand hygiene portion to non- clinical staff members, which comprised a total of about ,2 individuals. “It was a great back-to-basics initiative,”
said Atrubin. “Our expectation was for everyone at TH to know how to perform effective hand hygiene because it is not only good for our patients but for our com- munity in general.” “It’s astounding how TH has built a
culture that is so supportive of IP prac- tices,” added Benjamin D. alvan, MLS (ASCP), CIC, Infection Preventionist at TH and a member of the APIC National Communications Committee. “Team mem- bers are more often than not willing to sup- port IP practices and engage in education and competencies.”
When COVID hit In early 22, TH’s IP team led the orga- nization in renewing the hand hygiene, disinfection and PPE competencies. Any staff member who had been hired after the first round of competency training in early 21 had to undergo this training upon hire so “by the time COVID hit, we knew everyone had gone through the training at least once,” explained Atrubin. “They had the skills, we just had to refresh them.” Like most IP teams, the TH team was flooded with an influx of staff questions and requests when COVID-1 began spreading throughout the U.S. “I was expecting to get flooded with questions from clinical departments but surprised at the abundance of questions from non-clinical departments as well,” said Atrubin. “Every department wanted the IP team involved.” Atrubin and her team took a “divide- and-conquer” approach to supporting both clinical and non-clinical staff mem- bers, with Atrubin leading efforts around in-patient workflows and another team member taking on ambulatory settings.
“It really helped having a main point per- son to field inquiries and requests,” she commented. At the same time, TH’s Chief uality Officer led a COVID Clinical Task Force with daily clinical team meetings, while the hospital’s Chief Operations Officer facilitated house-wide daily meetings for staff members across all departments. “It was great having those meetings in
place because it became dedicated time where everybody heard the same questions and the same answers,” said Atrubin. The IP team also established a webpage
that housed the most current COVID resources for TH. When there was a change in practice or protocol, TH’s Chief Executive Officer would send out an email alerting staff members to the change. “We really leaned on the fact that we
were an academic medical center and made sure staff understood the science behind changes,” said Atrubin. “For example, we provided detailed information on the meaning behind PC test results and what the results meant for patient isolation practices.” “Now in our third surge of COVID, staff members are responding very efficiently,” said alvan. “Much of our work in IP is encouraging clinical staff members and helping them feel confident that they can take care of patients safely because they have the training and can trust their skills.”
Extending IP into the community In parallel with its internal efforts to com- bat COVID, TH has provided IP support to the greater Tampa Bay community through its TH Prevention esponse Outreach (TPO) program. “At the time when COVID hit, our CEO
and senior leadership recognized we needed to support the community,” said Atrubin, who is the TPO Director. “We have a lot of community partners and they were coming to us asking for help and rec- ommendations on the pandemic.” Over the past two years, Atrubin and the
TPO team have worked with numerous Tampa Bay organizations on IP protocols, including the Tampa Bay Lightning hockey team, The Florida Aquarium, several muse- ums and schools. Looking ahead, they plan to expand the program to address other areas in occupational health beyond COVID. “The TPO program was one factor that
really drew me to the hospital because it is something that you don’t really see any- where associated with an academic medi- cal center,” said alvan, who joined TH in 221. “The program aligns with APIC’s new vision and mission to advance infection prevention outside of healthcare and into the public domain where it needs to be.”
Monitoring and motivation drive 130% increase in hand hygiene compliance Hand hygiene can help prevent the spread of infectious agents in healthcare facilities, but as the CDC points out, healthcare providers clean their hands, on average, less than half of the times they should.2 Seeking to better protect patients and staff
from the spread of HAIs, St. Joseph Hospital in Savannah, eorgia launched an initiative to improve hand hygiene (HH) compliance. They selected and installed an electronic HH compliance monitoring system (CenTrak) in November 21. Once pandemic-related hospitalizations surged in early 22, the IP team knew compliance was crucial. They understood the critical secret: their team must invest time into the process to achieve the greatest success. Emmitt Smith, N, CIC, Infection Control Practitioner, who served as the dedicated team lead, engaged the technology, advocated for hand hygiene, remained open to ideas, and reinforced how data improves operations.
To garner greater support, Emmitt dis- tributed hand-written letters to every high performer via the mail, highlighting how critical their work was and how proud the hospital was of their growing HH achieve- ment. In addition to the encouraging letters shared, pizza parties for high compliance units motivated staff to compete and grow their pride in the HH project. The efforts of Emmitt, the IP team, and
each individual staff member resulted in a 13 increase in HH compliance. The com- pliance numbers are now consistently among the best in the nation and often as high as . Furthermore, the facility’s cost of HAIs has dropped by more than 4, since reenergizing their HH compliance campaign.
Visual feedback and education results in 70% higher surface disinfection scores While surface disinfection has been a long- term challenge in healthcare, the COVID- 1 pandemic has made it even harder to maintain compliance. The CDC states in its 22 annual National and State Healthcare- Associated Infections (HAI) Progress eport, “The COVID-1 pandemic created a
perfect storm for HAIs in healthcare set- tings. Many hospitals faced extraordinary circumstances that may have reduced the implementation of standard infection pre- vention and control (IPC) practices.”3 In 221, the IP team at Hackensack University Hospital in Edison, N.J. sought to determine the effectiveness of adding a color additive (innos Highlight) to bleach wipes, which provides immediate visual feedback to EVS staff on their cleaning effectiveness. The liquid blue indicator, when dispensed
hpnonline.com • HEALTHCARE PURCHASING NEWS • March 2022 35
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