The preventable proportion of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) may decrease over time as standards of care improve. We aimed to assess the proportion of HAIs prevented by multifaceted infection control interventions in different economic settings.

In this systematic review and meta-analysis, we searched OVID Medline, EMBASE, CINAHL, PubMed, and The Cochrane Library for studies published between 2005 and 2016 assessing multifaceted interventions to reduce catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs), central-line–associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs), surgical site infections (SSIs), ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP), and hospital-acquired pneumonia not associated with mechanical ventilation (HAP) in acute-care or long-term care settings. For studies reporting raw rates, we extracted data and calculated the natural log of the risk ratio and variance to obtain pooled risk ratio estimates.

Of the 5,226 articles identified by our search, 144 studies were included in the final analysis. Pooled incidence rate ratios associated with multifaceted interventions were 0.543 (95% confidence interval [CI], 0.445–0.662) for CAUTI, 0.459 (95% CI, 0.381–0.554) for CLABSI, and 0.553 (95% CI, 0.465–0.657) for VAP. The pooled rate ratio was 0.461 (95% CI, 0.389–0.546) for interventions aiming at SSI reduction, and for VAP reduction initiatives, the pooled rate ratios were 0.611 (95% CI, 0.414–0.900) for before-and-after studies and 0.509 (95% CI, 0.277–0.937) for randomized controlled trials. Reductions in infection rates were independent of the economic status of the study country. The risk of bias was high in 143 of 144 studies (99.3%).

Published evidence suggests a sustained potential for the significant reduction of HAI rates in the range of 35%–55% associated with multifaceted interventions irrespective of a country’s income level.

Improvement of environmental cleaning in hospitals has been shown to decrease in-hospital cross transmission of pathogens. Several objective methods, including aerobic colony counts (ACCs), the adenosine triphosphate (ATP) bioluminescence assay, and the fluorescent marker method have been developed to assess cleanliness. However, the standard interpretation of cleanliness using the fluorescent marker method remains uncertain.

To assess the fluorescent marker method as a tool for determining the effectiveness of hospital cleaning.

A prospective survey study.

An academic medical center.

The same 10 high-touch surfaces were tested after each terminal cleaning using (1) the fluorescent marker method, (2) the ATP assay, and (3) the ACC method. Using the fluorescent marker method under study, surfaces were classified as totally clean, partially clean, or not clean. The ACC method was used as the standard for comparison.

According to the fluorescent marker method, of the 830 high-touch surfaces, 321 surfaces (38.7%) were totally clean (TC group), 84 surfaces (10.1%) were partially clean (PC group), and 425 surfaces (51.2%) were not clean (NC group). The TC group had significantly lower ATP and ACC values (mean ± SD, 428.7 ± 1,180.0 relative light units [RLU] and 15.6 ± 77.3 colony forming units [CFU]/100 cm2) than the PC group (1,386.8 ± 2,434.0 RLU and 34.9 ± 87.2 CFU/100 cm2) and the NC group (1,132.9 ± 2,976.1 RLU and 46.8 ± 119.2 CFU/100 cm2).

The fluorescent marker method provided a simple, reliable, and real-time assessment of environmental cleaning in hospitals. Our results indicate that only a surface determined to be totally clean using the fluorescent marker method could be considered clean.

To determine the effectiveness of ultraviolet (UV) environmental disinfection system on rates of hospital-acquired vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE) and Clostridium difficile.

Using active surveillance and an interrupted time-series design, hospital-acquired acquisition of VRE and C. difficile on a bone marrow transplant (BMT) unit were examined before and after implementation of terminal disinfection with UV on all rooms regardless of isolation status of patients. The main outcomes were hospital-based acquisition measured through (1) active surveillance: admission, weekly, and discharge screening for VRE and toxigenic C. difficile (TCD) and (2) clinical surveillance: incidence of VRE and CDI on the unit.

Bone marrow transplant unit at a tertiary-care cancer center.

Stem cell transplant (SCT) recipients.

Terminal disinfection of all rooms with UV regardless of isolation status of patients.

During the 20-month study period, 579 patients had 704 admissions to the BMT unit, and 2,160 surveillance tests were performed. No change in level or trend in the incidence of VRE (trend incidence rate ratio [IRR], 0.96; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.81–1.14; level IRR, 1.34; 95% CI, 0.37–1.18) or C. difficile (trend IRR, 1.08; 95% CI, 0.89–1.31; level IRR, 0.51; 95% CI, 0.13–2.11) was observed after the intervention.

Utilization of UV disinfection to supplement routine terminal cleaning of rooms was not effective in reducing hospital-acquired VRE and C. difficile among SCT recipients.

Carbapenemase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (CPE) outbreaks are mostly attributed to patient-to-patient transmission via healthcare workers.

We describe successful containment of a prolonged OXA-48–producing S. marcescens outbreak after recognizing the sink traps as the source of transmission.

The Sheba Medical Center intensive care unit (ICU), contains 16 single-bed, semi-closed rooms. Active CPE surveillance includes twice-weekly rectal screening of all patients. A case was defined as a patient detected with OXA-48 CPE >72 hours after admission. A root-cause analysis was used to investigate the outbreak. All samples were inoculated on chrom-agar CRE, and carbapenemase genes were detected using commercial molecular Xpert-Carba-R. Environmental and patient S. marcescens isolates were characterized using PFGE.

From January 2016 to May 2017, 32 OXA-48 CPE cases were detected, and 81% of these were S. marcescens. A single clone was the cause of all but the first 2 cases. The common factor in all cases was the use of relatively large amounts of tap water. The outbreak clone was detected in 2 sink outlets and 16 sink traps. In addition to routine strict infection control measures, measures taken to contain the outbreak included (1) various sink decontamination efforts, which eliminated the bacteria from the sink drains only temporarily and (2) educational intervention that engaged the ICU team and lead to high adherence to ‘sink-contamination prevention guidelines.’ No additional cases were detected for 12 months.

Despite persistence of the outbreak clones in the environmental reservoir for 1 year, the outbreak was rapidly and successfully contained. Addressing sink traps as hidden reservoirs played a major role in the intervention.

To compare bacterial contamination of military-approved uniforms and hospital-provided scrubs donned by nursing staff in an inpatient setting.

Randomized experimental crossover study.

Large academic military medical center.

Inpatient units were randomized to predetermine the order of uniform sampling. Participants included nursing staff who provided direct patient care across 7 eligible inpatient units. Sampling of 6 designated sites on the uniform was completed on arrival to work, at ~4 hours into their shift, and at the 8-hour time point, for a total of 18 samples. Sampling of each participant occurred on 2 separate occasions, once in a military-approved uniform, and once in hospital-provided scrubs. After 24 hours of incubation, a colony-counting machine was used to calculate the total colony-forming units (CFU) of the sample.

Across all time points, military-approved uniforms demonstrated a 2-fold bacterial increase at the abdominal site and 3-fold increases at the sleeve cuff and waist pocket regions compared to the same regions on hospital-provided scrubs.

Nurses should be aware that bacteria are present at much higher levels on their personal military uniforms compared to hospital-provided scrubs. Additional research is needed to determine whether these findings are a function of wear, laundering, or environmental factors. Nurses should adhere to daily uniform washing to reduce bacterial load and minimize risk of nosocomial infections to the patients they care for.

This article describes a CDI outbreak in a long-term care (LTC) facility that used molecular typing techniques and whole-genome sequencing to identify widespread dissemination of the clonal strain in the environment which was successfully removed after terminal cleaning.

This study was conducted in a long-term care facility in Texas.

A recently hospitalized LTC patient was diagnosed with CDI followed shortly thereafter by 7 subsequent CDI cases. A stool specimen was obtained from each patient for culturing and typing. An environmental point-prevalence study of the facility was conducted before and after terminal cleaning of the facility to assess environmental contamination. Cultured isolates were typed using ribotyping, multilocus variant analysis, and whole-genome sequencing.

Stool samples were available for 5 of 8 patients; of these specimens, 4 grew toxigenic C. difficile ribotype 027. Of 50 environmental swab samples collected throughout the facility prior to the facility-wide terminal cleaning, 19 (38%) grew toxigenic C. difficile (most commonly ribotype 027, 79%). The terminal cleaning was effective at reducing C. difficile spores in the environment and at eradicating the ribotype 027 strain (P<.001). Using multilocus variance analysis and whole-genome sequencing, clinical and environmental strains were highly related and, in some cases, were identical.

Using molecular typing techniques, we demonstrated reduced environmental contamination with toxigenic C. difficile and the eradication of a ribotype 027 clone. These techniques may help direct infection control efforts and decrease the burden of CDI in the healthcare system.

To determine the prevalence of Clostridium difficile colonization among patients who meet the 2017 IDSA/SHEA C. difficile infection (CDI) Clinical Guideline Update criteria for the preferred patient population for C. difficile testing.

Retrospective cohort.

Tertiary-care hospital in St. Louis, Missouri.

Patients whose diarrheal stool samples were submitted to the hospital’s clinical microbiology laboratory for C. difficile testing (toxin EIA) from August 2014 to September 2016.

Electronic and manual chart review were used to determine whether patients tested for C. difficile toxin had clinically significant diarrhea and/or any alternate cause for diarrhea. Toxigenic C. difficile culture was performed on all stool specimens from patients with clinically significant diarrhea and no known alternate cause for their diarrhea.

A total of 8,931 patients with stool specimens submitted were evaluated: 570 stool specimens were EIA positive (+) and 8,361 stool specimens were EIA negative (−). Among the EIA+stool specimens, 107 (19% of total) were deemed eligible for culture. Among the EIA− stool specimens, 515 (6%) were eligible for culture. One EIA+stool specimen (1%) was toxigenic culture negative. Among the EIA− stool specimens that underwent culture, toxigenic C. difficile was isolated from 63 (12%).

Most patients tested for C. difficile do not have clinically significant diarrhea and/or potential alternate causes for diarrhea. The prevalence of toxigenic C. difficile colonization among EIA− patients who met the IDSA/SHEA CDI guideline criteria for preferred patient population for C. difficile testing was 12%.

To examine neonatal risk factors associated with recurrent Staphylococcus aureus colonization and to determine the genetic relatedness of S. aureus strains cultured from neonates before and after decolonization.

Single-center retrospective cohort study of neonates admitted to the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) from April 2013 to December 2015, during which weekly nasal cultures from hospitalized NICU patients were routinely obtained for S. aureus surveillance.

Johns Hopkins Hospital’s 45-bed level IV NICU in Baltimore, Maryland.

Demographics and clinical data were collected on all neonates admitted to the NICU with S. aureus nasal colonization who underwent mupirocin-based decolonization during the study period. A decolonized neonate was defined as a neonate with ≥1 negative culture after intranasal mupirocin treatment. Pulsed-field gel electrophoresis was used for strain typing.

Of 2,060 infants screened for S. aureus, 271 (13%) were colonized, and 203 of these 271 (75%) received intranasal mupirocin. Of those treated, 162 (80%) had follow-up surveillance cultures, and 63 of these 162 infants (39%) developed recurrent colonization after treatment. The S. aureus strains were often genetically similar before and after decolonization. The presence of an endotracheal tube or nasal cannula/mask was associated with an increased risk of recurrent S. aureus colonization (hazard ratio [HR], 2.65; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.19–5.90; and HR, 2.21; 95% CI, 1.02–4.75, respectively).

Strains identified before and after decolonization were often genetically similar, and the presence of invasive respiratory devices increased the risk of recurrent S. aureus nasal colonization in neonates. To improve decolonization efficacy, alternative strategies may be needed.

We developed a decision analytic model to evaluate the impact of a preoperative Staphylococcus aureus decolonization bundle on surgical site infections (SSIs), health-care–associated costs (HCACs), and deaths due to SSI.

Our model population comprised US adults undergoing elective surgery. We evaluated 3 self-administered preoperative strategies: (1) the standard of care (SOC) consisting of 2 disinfectant soap showers; (2) the “test-and-treat” strategy consisting of the decolonization bundle including chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) soap, CHG mouth rinse, and mupirocin nasal ointment for 5 days) if S. aureus was found at any of 4 screened sites (nasal, throat, axillary, perianal area), otherwise the SOC; and (3) the “treat-all” strategy consisting of the decolonization bundle for all patients, without S. aureus screening. Model parameters were derived primarily from a randomized controlled trial that measured the efficacy of the decolonization bundle for eradicating S. aureus.

Under base-case assumptions, the treat-all strategy yielded the fewest SSIs and the lowest HCACs, followed by the test-and-treat strategy. In contrast, the SOC yielded the most SSIs and the highest HCACs. Consequently, relative to the SOC, the average savings per operation was $217 for the treat-all strategy and $123 for the test-and-treat strategy, and the average savings per per SSI prevented was $21,929 for the treat-all strategy and $15,166 for the test-and-treat strategy. All strategies were sensitive to the probability of acquiring an SSI and the increased risk if SSI if the patient was colonized with SA.

We predict that the treat-all strategy would be the most effective and cost-saving strategy for preventing SSIs. However, because this strategy might select more extensively for mupirocin-resistant S. aureus and cause more medication adverse effects than the test-and-treat approach or the SOC, additional studies are needed to define its comparative benefits and harms.

Hand hygiene is the primary measure for reducing nosocomial infections based on 7 steps recommended by the WHO. The aim of this study was to assess the duration and the quality of hand hygiene before and after simulation-based training (SBT).

The study took place in a University Hospital Pediatric Department among its residents and nurses. In assessment A, 10 hand-rubbing procedures per participant during a work day were scored by observers using a validated, anatomically based assessment scale. Two weeks later, all participants received a didactic course and SBT, followed 1 month later by assessment B, observation of 10 hand-rubbing procedures. Assessments were performed by 2 independent observers. Before-and-after testing was used to evaluate the demonstration of theoretical knowledge.

In total, 22 participants were included, for whom 438 hand hygiene procedures were assessed: 218 for assessment A and 220 for assessment B. The duration of hand rubbing increased from 31.16 seconds in assessment A to 35.75 seconds in assessment B (P=.04). In assessment A, participants averaged 6.33 steps, and in assessment B, participants averaged 6.03 steps (difference not significant). Significant improvement in scores was observed between assessments A and B, except for the dorsal side of the right hand. The wrist and interdigital areas were the least-cleaned zones. A difference between assessments A and B was observed for nail varnish (P=.003) but not for long nails or jewelry. Theoretical scores increased from 2.83 to 4.29 (scale of 0–5; P<.001).

This study revealed that an optimal number of steps were performed during hand-rubbing procedures and that SBT improved the duration and quality of hand hygiene, except for the dorsal right side. Emphasis should be placed on the specific hand areas that remained unclean after regular hand-rubbing procedures.

To describe the pattern of blood culture utilization in an academic university hospital setting.

Retrospective cohort study.

A 789-bed tertiary-care university hospital that processes 40,000+blood cultures annually.

We analyzed blood cultures collected from adult inpatients at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania between July 1, 2014, and June 30, 2015. Descriptive statistics and regression models were used to analyze patterns of blood culture utilization: frequency of blood cultures, use of repeat cultures following a true-positive culture, and number of sets drawn per day.

In total, 38,939 blood culture sets were drawn during 126,537 patient days (incidence rate, 307.7 sets per 1,000 patient days). The median number of blood culture sets drawn per hospital encounter was 2 (range, 1–76 sets). The median interval between blood cultures was 2 days (range, 1–71 days). Oncology services and cultures with gram-positive cocci were significantly associated with greater odds of having repeat blood cultures drawn the following day. Emergency services had the highest rate of drawing single blood-culture sets (16.9%), while oncology services had the highest frequency of drawing ≥5 blood culture sets within 24 hours (0.91%). Approximately 10% of encounters had at least 1 true-positive culture, and 89.2% of those encounters had repeat blood cultures drawn. The relative risk of a patient having repeat blood cultures was lower for those in emergency, surgery, and oncology services than for those in general medicine.

Ordering practices differed by service and culture results. Analyzing blood culture utilization can contribute to the development of guidelines and benchmarks for appropriate usage.

To assess the status of antibiotic prescribing in the ambulatory setting for adult patients with acute respiratory infections (ARIs) and to identify opportunities and barriers for outpatient antibiotic stewardship programs (ASPs).

Mixed methods including point prevalence using chart reviews, surveys, and collaborative learning.

Hospital-owned clinics in the New York City area.

In total, 31 hospital-owned clinics from 9 hospitals and health systems participated in the study to assess ARI prescribing practices for patients >18 years old.

Each clinic performed a survey of current stewardship practices, retrospective chart reviews of prescribing in 30 randomly selected ARI patients from October 2015 to March 2016, and surveys of provider characteristics and knowledge. Clinics participated in collaborative learning with peers and experts in antibiotic stewardship and collected data from June 2016 to August 2016. Sites received data reports by individual clinic, aggregated by hospital, and were compared among participating clinics.

Few sites had outpatient stewardship activities. The retrospective review of 1,004 ARI patients revealed that 37.3% of ARI patients received antibiotics, with significant variation in prescribing practices among sites (17.4%–71.0%; P<.001). Macrolides were the most commonly prescribed antibiotics. Most of the 302 respondents recognized the need for tools to assist in prescribing.

This collaborative study establishes a baseline assessment of the status of outpatient ASPs in New York City. It provides hospitals, health systems, and individual clinics with specific data to inform their development of stewardship interventions targeting ARIs.