Issue 23, December 2007 Control of Infection and Contamination

Presentation slides are available here (PDF: 2.2 MB)

Above please find an example of the poster to advertise "the Cleanliness matters" -scientific symposium, which was organized as part of the scientific program of the 8th Congress of the International Federation of Infection Control (IFIC) in Budapest, Hungary (October 2007). "Cleanliness matters" was sponsored by GE Healthcare.

Cleanliness Matters - New research and compelling economic data in support of infection prevention

Abstract by Dr. Betsy McCaughey, Ph.D.

Introduction - “Hand hygiene is not enough”
In the United States, infection prevention programs have focused largely on improving hand hygiene compliance. As iconoclastic as it sounds, hand hygiene is not enough to stop drug-resistant bacteria from racing through hospitals. There has been too little attention to four other essential components: training caregivers on how to keep their hands from becoming re-contaminated just seconds after washing and gloving, ensuring that surfaces in hospitals are cleaned effectively, screening incoming patients for MRSA to identify the source of drug-resistant bacteria, and taking effective barrier precautions with all colonized patients.

Hospital contamination
Research shows that, in U.S. hospitals, up to three-quarters of patient rooms are contaminated with MRSA and VRE found on bed rails, over-the-bed tables, television monitors, telephones, IV poles, and especially under beds. Caregivers routinely and unknowingly contaminate their hands when they touch surfaces in patient rooms, even though they have had no direct patient contact. Not knowing which patients are colonized with drug-resistant bacteria allows caregivers' clothing and virtually all equipment, including blood pressure cuffs, EKG wires, pulse oximeters, and stethoscopes to become vectors of disease. Current cleaning routines in most hospitals are inadequate. Rigorous, supervised cleaning is shown to reduce the incidence of VRE and MRSA colonization. Cleaning is highly cost-effective, averting infections that would cost many times as much to treat as the cleaning improvements cost.

Impact of screening for MRSA
Screening patients for MRSA on admission is essential, because you cannot stop the spread of bacteria if you don’t know the source. Universal screening is also highly cost-effective, returning as much as 20 to 1 payback the first year.

In the United States, the compelling evidence that screening, cleaning and barrier precautions can reduce infections up to 90% is putting hospitals in a new legal situation. No longer will they be shielded by the long-held presumption that infection is an inevitable risk when one is hospitalized. Infection is the next asbestos, the next major cause of class-action lawsuits in the U.S.

Presentation slides are available here (PDF: 2.2 MB)

Last updated: 30 December 2007
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