Real-time virtual infection prevention and control assessments in skilled nursing homes, New York, March 2020-A pilot project.

OBJECTIVE: To describe a pilot project infection prevention and control (IPC) assessment conducted in skilled nursing facilities (SNFs) in New York State (NYS) during a pivotal 2-week period when the region became the nation's epicenter for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). DESIGN: A telephone and video assessment of IPC measures in SNFs at high risk or experiencing COVID-19 activity. PARTICIPANTS: SNFs in 14 New York counties, including New York City. INTERVENTION: A 3-component remote IPC assessment: (1) screening tool; (2) telephone IPC checklist; and (3) COVID-19 video IPC assessment (ie, "COVIDeo"). RESULTS: In total, 92 SNFs completed the IPC screening tool and checklist: 52 (57%) were conducted as part COVID-19 investigations, and 40 (43%) were proactive prevention-based assessments. Among the 40 proactive assessments, 14 (35%) identified suspected or confirmed COVID-19 cases. COVIDeo was performed in 26 (28%) of 92 assessments and provided observations that other tools would have missed: personal protective equipment (PPE) that was not easily accessible, redundant, or improperly donned, doffed, or stored and specific challenges implementing IPC in specialty populations. The IPC assessments took ∼1 hour each and reached an estimated 4 times as many SNFs as on-site visits in a similar time frame. CONCLUSIONS: Remote IPC assessments by telephone and video were timely and feasible methods of assessing the extent to which IPC interventions had been implemented in a vulnerable setting and to disseminate real-time recommendations. Remote assessments are now being implemented across New York State and in various healthcare facility types. Similar methods have been adapted nationally by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

Multidrug-resistant tuberculosis. Recommendations for reducing risk during travel for healthcare and humanitarian work.

Healthcare and humanitarian workers who travel to work where the incidence of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR TB) is high and potential transmission may occur are at risk of infection and disease due to these resistant strains. Transmission occurs due to inadequate transmission control practices and the inability to provide timely and accurate diagnosis and treatment of persons with MDR TB. Patients risk exposure if active TB is unrecognized in workers after they return to lower-risk settings. Guidance for risk reduction measures for workers in high-risk areas is limited, and no studies confirm the efficacy of treatment regimens for latent TB infection due to MDR TB. Bacille Calmette-Guérin (BCG) vaccination decreases the risk of active TB and possibly latent infection. IFN-γ release assays differentiate TB infection from BCG vaccination effect. A series of risk reduction measures are provided as a potential strategy. These measures include risk reductions before travel, including risk assessment, TB screening, education, respirator fit testing, and BCG vaccination. Measures during travel include use of respirators in settings where this may not be common practice, transmission control practices, triaging of patients with consistent symptoms, providing education for good cough etiquette, and provision of care in well-ventilated areas, including open air areas. Risk reduction measures after return include TB screening 8 to 10 weeks later and recommendations for management of latent TB infection in areas where the likelihood of MDR TB exposure is high.

Quantifying sources of bias in National Healthcare Safety Network laboratory-identified Clostridium difficile infection rates.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the effect of multiple sources of bias on state- and hospital-specific National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) laboratory-identified Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) rates. DESIGN: Sensitivity analysis. SETTING: A total of 124 New York hospitals in 2010. METHODS: New York NHSN CDI events from audited hospitals were matched to New York hospital discharge billing records to obtain additional information on patient age, length of stay, and previous hospital discharges. "Corrected" hospital-onset (HO) CDI rates were calculated after (1) correcting inaccurate case reporting found during audits, (2) incorporating knowledge of laboratory results from outside hospitals, (3) excluding days when patients were not at risk from the denominator of the rates, and (4) adjusting for patient age. Data sets were simulated with each of these sources of bias reintroduced individually and combined. The simulated rates were compared with the corrected rates. Performance (ie, better, worse, or average compared with the state average) was categorized, and misclassification compared with the corrected data set was measured. RESULTS: Counting days patients were not at risk in the denominator reduced the state HO rate by 45% and resulted in 8% misclassification. Age adjustment and reporting errors also shifted rates (7% and 6% misclassification, respectively). CONCLUSIONS: Changing the NHSN protocol to require reporting of age-stratified patient-days and adjusting for patient-days at risk would improve comparability of rates across hospitals. Further research is needed to validate the risk-adjustment model before these data should be used as hospital performance measures.

Prevention of hospital-onset Clostridium difficile infection in the New York metropolitan region using a collaborative intervention model.

The incidence, severity, and associated costs of Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection (CDI) have dramatically increased in hospitals over the past decade, indicating an urgent need for strategies to prevent transmission of C. difficile. This article describes a multifaceted collaborative approach to reduce hospital-onset CDI rates in 35 acute care hospitals in the New York metropolitan region. Hospitals participated in a comprehensive CDI reduction intervention and formed interdisciplinary teams to coordinate their efforts. Standardized clinical infection prevention and environmental cleaning protocols were implemented and monitored using checklists. Monthly data reports were provided to hospitals for facility-specific performance evaluation and comparison to aggregate data from all participants. Hospitals also participated in monthly teleconferences to review data and highlight successes, challenges, and strategies to reduce CDI. Incidence of hospital-onset CDI per 10,000 patient days was the primary outcome measure. Additionally, the incidence of nonhospital-associated, community-onset, hospital-associated, and recurrent CDIs were measured. The use of a collaborative model to implement a multifaceted infection prevention strategy was temporally associated with a significant reduction in hospital-onset CDI rates in participating New York metropolitan regional hospitals.

Trends in validity of central line-associated bloodstream infection surveillance data, New York State, 2007-2010.

BACKGROUND: In 2007, New York State (NYS) hospitals began mandatory public reporting of central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) data associated with intensive care units (ICUs) into the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). Facilities were required to use the NHSN device-associated CLABSI criteria to identify laboratory-confirmed bloodstream infections. METHODS: Onsite audits were conducted in ICUs by NYS hospital-acquired infection program staff using a standardized database. Hospitals provided ICU patient medical records with a positive blood culture during a selected time frame. RESULTS: Between 2007 and 2010, an average of 79% of all reporting hospitals were audited annually. Of the 5,697 patients audited, 3,104 (54%) had a central line in place, and 650 of the patients with a central line (21%) were identified as having a CLABSI by the hospital-acquired infection program reviewer. Between 2007 and 2010, the specificity increased from 90% to 99%, whereas the sensitivity remained stable at approximately 71%. As a result of the audit process, the NYS 2010 CLABSI rate increased by 5.6%. CONCLUSIONS: A standardized audit process has helped improve the accuracy of CLABSI reporting. Data validation provides consistent data for measuring the progress of infection prevention strategies and allows for relevant comparison of ICU data.

Comparison of 2 Clostridium difficile surveillance methods: National Healthcare Safety Network's laboratory-identified event reporting module versus clinical infection surveillance.

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) laboratory-identified (LabID) event reporting module for Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) is an adequate proxy measure of clinical CDI for public reporting purposes by comparing the 2 surveillance methods. DESIGN: Validation study. SETTING: Thirty New York State acute care hospitals. METHODS: Six months of data were collected by 30 facilities using a clinical infection surveillance definition while also submitting the NHSN LabID event for CDI. The data sets were matched and compared to determine whether the assigned clinical case status matched the LabID case status. A subset of mismatches was evaluated further, and reasons for the mismatches were quantified. Infection rates determined using the 2 definitions were compared. RESULTS: A total of 3,301 CDI cases were reported. Analysis of the original data yielded a 67.3% (2,223/3,301) overall case status match. After review and validation, there was 81.3% (2,683/3,301) agreement. The most common reason for disagreement (54.9%) occurred because the symptom onset was less than 48 hours after admission but the positive specimen was collected on hospital day 4 or later. The NHSN LabID hospital onset rate was 29% higher than the corresponding clinical rate and was generally consistent across all hospitals. CONCLUSIONS: Use of the NHSN LabID event minimizes the burden of surveillance and standardizes the process. With a greater than 80% match between the NHSN LabID event data and the clinical infection surveillance data, the New York State Department of Health made the decision to use the NHSN LabID event CDI data for public reporting purposes.

Lessons learned while implementing mandatory health care-associated infection reporting in New York State.

New York State Public Health Law §2819, requiring the mandatory public reporting of health care-associated infections, was enacted in July 2005. This article describes key provisions in the legislation, New York State health care-associated infection program development, the rationale for selection of the National Healthcare Safety Network for reporting, and lessons learned.

The relationship of public health to the infection preventionists in United States hospitals, 2011: a partnership for change.

To gain a better understanding of the relationship between state and local health departments and the hospital-based infection prevention community, including the potential impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 funding on those relationships, a survey was developed by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology and the Council of State and Territorial Epidemiologists and distributed in 2011. This report describes the survey findings and presents an initial assessment of factors identified by infection preventionists as the most important in developing an effective relationship with health departments. Opportunities for improvement are also described. This preliminary analysis provides an initial baseline for further investigation to clarify the optimum approaches for ongoing collaboration.

Use of administrative data in efficient auditing of hospital-acquired surgical site infections, New York State 2009-2010.

OBJECTIVE: To efficiently validate the accuracy of surgical site infection (SSI) data reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) by New York State (NYS) hospitals. DESIGN: Validation study. SETTING: 176 NYS hospitals. METHODS: NYS Department of Health staff validated the data reported to NHSN by review of a stratified sample of medical records from each hospital. The four strata were (1) SSIs reported to NHSN; (2) records with an indication of infection from diagnosis codes in administrative data but not reported to NHSN as SSIs; (3) records with discordant procedure codes in NHSN and state data sets; (4) records not in the other three strata. RESULTS: A total of 7,059 surgical charts (6% of the procedures reported by hospitals) were reviewed. In stratum 1, 7% of reported SSIs did not meet the criteria for inclusion in NHSN and were subsequently removed. In stratum 2, 24% of records indicated missed SSIs not reported to NHSN, whereas in strata 3 and 4, only 1% of records indicated missed SSIs; these SSIs were subsequently added to NHSN. Also, in stratum 3, 75% of records were not coded for the correct NHSN procedure. Errors were highest for colon data; the NYS colon SSI rate increased by 7.5% as a result of hospital audits. CONCLUSIONS: Audits are vital for ensuring the accuracy of hospital-acquired infection (HAI) data so that hospital HAI rates can be fairly compared. Use of administrative data increased the efficiency of identifying problems in hospitals' SSI surveillance that caused SSIs to be unreported and caused errors in denominator data.

Risk factors for coronary artery bypass graft chest surgical site infections in New York State, 2008.

BACKGROUND: All hospitals in New York State (NYS) are required to report surgical site infections (SSIs) occurring after coronary artery bypass graft surgery. This report describes the risk adjustment method used by NYS for reporting hospital SSI rates, and additional methods used to explore remaining differences in infection rates. METHODS: All patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft surgery in NYS in 2008 were monitored for chest SSI following the National Healthcare Safety Network protocol. The NYS Cardiac Surgery Reporting System and a survey of hospital infection prevention practices provided additional risk information. Models were developed to standardize hospital-specific infection rates and to assess additional risk factors and practices. RESULTS: The National Healthcare Safety Network risk score based on duration of surgery, American Society of Anesthesiologists score, and wound class were not highly predictive of chest SSIs. The addition of diabetes, obesity, end-stage renal disease, sex, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and Medicaid payer to the model improved the discrimination between procedures that resulted in SSI and those that did not by 25%. Hospital-reported infection prevention practices were not significantly related to SSI rates. CONCLUSIONS: Additional risk factors collected using a secondary database improved the prediction of SSIs, however, there remained unexplained variation in rates between hospitals.

Infection control resources in New York State hospitals, 2007.

BACKGROUND: In July 2005, New York State legislation requiring the mandatory reporting of specific hospital-associated infections (HAIs) was passed by the legislature and signed by the governor. In an effort to measure the impact of this legislation on infection control resources, the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) conducted a baseline survey in March 2007. This report presents an overview of the methods and results of this survey. METHODS: An electronic survey of infection control resources and responsibilities was conducted by the NYSDOH on their secure data network. The survey contained questions regarding the number and percent time for infection prevention and control professional (ICP) and hospital epidemiologist (HE) staff members, ICP/HE educational background and certification, infection control program support services, activities and responsibilities of infection prevention and control program staff, and estimates of time dedicated to various activities, including surveillance. RESULTS: Practitioners in 222 of 224 acute care hospitals (99%) responded. The average number of ICPs per facility depended on the average daily census of acute care beds and ranged from a mean of 0.64 full-time equivalent (FTE) ICP in facilities with an average daily census of < or = 100 beds to 6.5 FTE ICPs in facilities with an average daily census of > or = 900 beds. Averaging the ICP resources over the health care settings for which they were responsible revealed that the "average full-time ICP" was responsible for 151 acute care facility beds, 1.3 intensive care units (ICUs) (average, 16 ICU beds), 21 long-term care facility beds, 0.6 dialysis centers, 0.5 ambulatory surgery centers, 4.8 ambulatory/outpatient clinics, and 1.1 private practice offices. The ICPs reported that 45% of their time is dedicated to surveillance. Other activities for which ICPs reported at least partial responsibility include staff education, quality assurance, occupational health, emergency preparedness, construction, central supply/processing, and risk management. CONCLUSIONS: This survey was designed to monitor and assess infection prevention and control resources and activities in hospitals as New York State embarks on mandatory public reporting of HAI rates. Monitoring infection control resources and activities will be important as HAI reporting moves forward. The information collected will serve as a baseline, and repeat surveys will be conducted to determine which, if any, of the various indicators correlate with the completeness and accuracy of HAI reporting.

An investigation of potential neurosurgical transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease: challenges and lessons learned.

In 2001, New York State health officials were notified about 2 patients with Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease who had undergone neurosurgical procedures at the same hospital within 43 days of each other. One patient had Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease at the time of surgery; the other patient developed Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease 6.5 years later. This investigation highlights the difficulties in assessing possible transmission of Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease.

Tuberculosis in health care workers during declining tuberculosis incidence in New York State.

BACKGROUND: Nosocomial tuberculosis (TB) transmission has decreased dramatically in New York State since 1992; however, health care workers (HCWs) still compose >3% of TB cases. METHODS: Aggregate surveillance data on incident TB cases from 1994 to 2002 were examined for trends among HCWs. Additional information was available for HCW cases from 1998 to 2002, including facility type, tuberculin skin test (TST) result at hire, and treatment of latent TB infection (TLTBI). RESULTS: In New York State, 2.5% of TB cases in 1994 and 4.0% in 2002 were in HCWs (P value for trend <.001). Fifty percent of HCWs TB cases in 1994 and 77.6% in 2002 were in non-US born (P = .002) HCWs. Multidrug-resistant TB in HCWs decreased from 15.6% in 1994 to 6.9% in 2002 (P = .001). Of 297 HCWs TB cases in 1998-2002, 54.9% were TST positive at hire, and 21.2% had unknown TST result; 50.2% of 221 HCWs who were TST positive at or after hire met guidelines for TLTBI, and 23.4% received treatment. The highest proportion with unknown TST at hire and the lowest proportion receiving TLTBI were in ambulatory facilities. CONCLUSION: Many HCWs who developed TB were either TST positive at hire and did not receive TLTBI or did not receive TST at hire. Facilities should encourage treatment for HCWs who meet criteria for TLTBI. Provider education should focus on ambulatory facilities.

Potential nosocomial exposure to Mycobacterium tuberculosis from a bronchoscope.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate a possible nosocomial outbreak of tuberculosis (TB). DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study. SETTING: Community hospital. METHODS: We reviewed medical records, hospital infection control measures, and potential locations of nosocomial exposure. We examined the results of acid-fast bacilli (AFB) smears, cultures, and drug susceptibility testing, and performed a DNA fingerprint analysis. We observed laboratory specimen processing procedures and bronchoscope disinfection procedures. We also reviewed bronchoscopy records. RESULTS: In October 2000, three patients had bronchoscopy specimen cultures that were positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Of the three, only one had clinical signs and symptoms consistent with TB and positive AFB sputum smears. The other two did not have signs and symptoms consistent with TB and had no known exposure to individuals with infectious TB. The three M. tuberculosis isolates had matching DNA fingerprints. No evidence of laboratory cross-contamination was identified. The three culture-positive specimens of M. tuberculosis were collected with the same bronchoscope within 9 days. This bronchoscope was inadequately cleaned and disinfected between patients, and the automated reprocessor used was not approved for use with the hospital bronchoscope. CONCLUSIONS: One of the bronchoscopes at this hospital was contaminated with M. tuberculosis during bronchoscopy of an AFB-smear-positive patient. Subsequent specimen contamination likely occurred because the bronchoscope had been inadequately cleaned and disinfected. Patients who subsequently underwent bronchoscopy were also potentially exposed to M. tuberculosis from this bronchoscope.

Multi-society guideline for reprocessing flexible gastrointestinal endoscopes. Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.

Flexible gastrointestinal endoscopy is a valuable diagnostic and therapeutic tool for the care of patients with gastrointestinal and pancreaticobiliary disorders. Compliance with accepted guidelines for the reprocessing of gastrointestinal endoscopes between patients is critical to the safety and success of their use. When these guidelines are followed, pathogen transmission can be effectively prevented. Increased efforts and resources should be directed to improve compliance with these guidelines. Further research in the area of gastrointestinal endoscope reprocessing should be encouraged. The organizations that endorsed this guideline are committed to assisting the FDA and manufacturers in addressing critical infection control issues in gastrointestinal device reprocessing.