ABSTRACT
In a 12-month study, a nurse driven protocol was implemented at a tertiary academic medical center. The purpose of the nurse driven protocol was to identify community-onset Clostridioides difficile infections, expeditiously isolate patients with presumed C difficile diarrheal illness, and prevent transmission while simultaneously decreasing the incidence of hospital-onset C difficile. The overall adherence to fidelity of the protocol was poor and failed to have a significant impact on infection rates.
Subject(s)
Clostridium Infections/nursing , Cross Infection/prevention & control , Diarrhea/nursing , Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous/nursing , Infection Control/organization & administration , Academic Medical Centers , Clostridioides difficile , Clostridium Infections/microbiology , Diarrhea/microbiology , Enterocolitis, Pseudomembranous/microbiology , Humans , Incidence , Nursing Service, Hospital , Patient IsolationABSTRACT
We assessed the impact of an embedded electronic medical record decision-support matrix (Cerner software system) for the reduction of hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile. A critical review of 3,124 patients highlighted excessive testing frequency in an academic medical center and demonstrated the impact of decision support following a testing fidelity algorithm.
