Collaborating to Prevent Infection

Teamwork between infection control and environmental services professionals at Hunterdon Medical Center in Flemington, NJ, has helped reduce infections at the 178-bed hospital. 'Constant education' is one key, so health care workers understand the importance of thorough cleaning and disinfecting as well as proper hand hygiene, according to Marita Nash, director, environmental services and linen, and Kathy Roye-Horn, former director of infection prevention. Education also emphasizes that 'cleaning is everyone's responsibility,' which requires a culture change. At Hunterdon, environmental services staff attend annual lectures for updates on infection control, including data and feedback. Infection prevention and environmental services directors perform observational rounds together, which has helped the hospital develop a cleaning sequence for high-touch surfaces in patient rooms. Hospital leadership has supported infection prevention efforts, including investing in a computerized surveillance system and rapid-testing equipment for the lab, providing washable computer keyboards and hiring additional staff. Nash advises, “To ensure success, identify needs to each other and make your business case to administration together.” Between 2006 and 2011, C.diff infections dropped by 79 percent, MRSA by 66 percent and vancomycin-resistant enterococci by 23 percent.

For more information, contact Nash at Nash.Marita@hunterdonhealthcare.org, Roye-Horn at kathyhorncic@gmail.com or Lisa Rasimowicz, director of infection prevention, at Rasimowicz.Lisa@hunterdonhealthcare.org. HPOE.org has more examples of best practices in health care, including infection prevention.