Real-Time Bedside Root Cause Analysis (RCA) as a Catalyst for Clostridioides difficile Reduction

Abstract

Background:C. difficile infection has been a significant cause of morbidity and mortality over the past decade. Our hospital had rates of hospital-onset, laboratory-identified, C. difficile infection (HO-CDI) that were significantly higher than our state and national benchmarks. HO-CDI is defined as a test positive for C. difficile occurring on or after day 4 of hospitalization, regardless of the presence of symptoms. New leadership at the hospital sought a creative way to engage staff in finding solutions to our high rates of HO-CDI. Objective: The purpose of this intervention was to engage frontline staff in reporting and solving patient care situations that may increase infection risk to decrease HO-CDI rates. Methods: Starting in July 2015, real-time bedside RCAs were performed weekly for any HO-CDI on the unit to which the infection was attributed and on any unit from which the patient had been recently transferred. Top clinical leadership of the hospital, and all services and departments, physicians, nurses, and others involved with the patient’s care were expected to attend and identify factors that may have contributed to the infection. The findings were documented, and changes to care were made based on the findings. The rate of incident hospital onset HO-CDI per 10,000 patient days was used to measure outcome because standardized infection ratios for the period before 2016 were not available. Results: Staff members suggested 6 specific actions that were undertaken to decrease HO-CDI risk (Table 1). The HO-CDI rate during the preintervention period (2012–2014) was 6.85 per 10,000 patient days (275 cases). In the postintervention period (2016–2018) the HO-CDI rate was 3.13 per 10,000 patient days (101 cases). There was a 54% reduction in the HO-CDI rate in the postintervention period (P < .001). Conclusions: The multidisciplinary bedside RCA process resulted in staff providing recommendations for actions to reduce HO-CDI risk. Implementation of staff suggestions resulted in a sustained, significant decrease in HO-CDI.

Funding: None

Disclosures: None