Experts talk about challenges in HAI prevention

The Infection Control Today published an insightful discussion on HAI prevention by a group of experts. Topics under discussion included role of executive leadership in infection control, reliability of hospital’s HAI data, public reporting, and pay for performance. The experts listed a number of infection control challenges facing hospitals today:

Inconsistent implementation of proven infection prevention and control measures

Lack of top level commitment to infection control – The experts observed that the Institutions that are most successful are the ones that have a top-down mandate.

In many hospitals, it’s difficult for the IP to get the support and resources needed to be able to implement HAI prevention programs, especially if that support requires an expenditure of money.

Many hospitals have yet to implement an HAI reporting system due to challenges # 2 and 3, even though there are mandatory reporting requirements

Hospitals not adhering to CDC’s definitions of infections, for example SSIs and VAP

IPs face the challenge of staying abreast of newly published infection prevention data and how this data is used in decisions about what should become standard clinical practice.

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