Phase II – The Outcomes
The Iroquois Infection Control Project (project summary)came to an end in August 2006. The program participants not only achieved the goals they set out to accomplish but established additional safe practices that have been implemented in their facilities.
As part of a grant funded project by the NYS Department of Health, Iroquois Healthcare began collecting data from 25 Iroquois member hospitals to identify nosocomial (hospital acquired) and non-nosocomial Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Iroquois had 25 member facilities voluntarily join in the Iroquois Infection Control Project, with signed approval from the Chief Executive Officers. The project was two fold with the initial phase beginning in 1999 and the second phase in 2003. The initial phase of the Infection Control Project has been reported on in many Iroquois publications. The following describes the second phase of the project.
The main purpose of the most recent Infection Control Project was to bring the hospitals together to improve patient safety outcomes by developing and determining which “Best Practices” would be most effective in preventing nosocomial MRSA in the adult inpatient population. To achieve this, the project participants determined that developing a standardized approach for the entire Iroquois Healthcare region was not only unique but the best solution. The development of this project was modeled after the Center for Disease Control’s National Nosocomial Infection Surveillance System (NNIS). All data remained confidential and when analyzed was coded so it could be shared freely among the participants.
Christine Gagnon, BS, RN, CIC, Infection Control Manager at Saratoga Hospital, one of the project participants, had this to say about the outcomes from the project: “This project allowed us to develop and implement prevention strategies that reduce the incidence of nosocomial acquired MRSA. We focused on the strategies that were cost effective and relevant to our patient populations. In addition to this, we were able to create a mechanism to evaluate several methods for preventing the transmission of MRSA during a patient’s acute hospital inpatient stay and then sharing the effect of those strategies with other participating members.”
Susanne Chamberlain, RN, CIC, Infection Control Program Director at Community General Hospital (CGH), shares the enthusiasm for the Infection Control Project. “As a participating member of the Iroquois Healthcare Association’s project for best practices for MRSA prevention, the knowledge that I gained from this experience has been beneficial in so many areas of my infection control surveillance program here at CGH. From new surveillance techniques to cost, to outcome, and most importantly how to motivate hospital staff to participate in the project became the lessons learned.”
Due to the unique regional collaborative approach taken by the Infection Control Program participants versus the experience of an individual hospital, the group decided to share project results and lessons learned by developing and submitting scientific abstracts to the professional infection control association known as APIC. APIC holds an annual national educational conference, and this gave many of the Infection Control Project participants a first time experience in writing and submitting an abstract. Here is what Chris Gagnon had to say about APIC: “We submitted four scientific abstracts during this project and had all of them accepted by National APIC. There was one oral abstract presentation and three poster abstract presentations. This is just some of the successes of this project.”
Special thanks go to Carole VanAntwerpen, the Iroquois Healthcare Association Project Director for Infection Control. The successes of the project were numerous and many of the hospital member participants felt it would not have been so without the leadership of Carole. On behalf of the IHA membership and staff, thank you Carole for all of your hard work and best wishes in your new endeavors.