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Reducing Clostridium difficile Colitis Rates Via Cost-Saving Diagnostic Stewardship

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 April 2018

Christina Yen ,
Paul Holtom ,
Susan M. Butler-Wu ,
Noah Wald-Dickler ,
Ira Shulman  and
Brad Spellberg
Christina Yen
Affiliation:
Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles, California Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Paul Holtom
Affiliation:
Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles, California Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Susan M. Butler-Wu
Affiliation:
Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles, California Department of Pathology, Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
Noah Wald-Dickler
Affiliation:
Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles, California Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
Ira Shulman
Affiliation:
Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles, California Department of Pathology, Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California.
Brad Spellberg*
Affiliation:
Los Angeles County and University of Southern California Medical Center, Los Angeles, California Department of Medicine, Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
*
Address correspondence to Brad Spellberg, MD, 2051 Marengo Street, Los Angeles, CA 90033 ([email protected]).
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Abstract

We conducted a quality improvement project at a large public tertiary-care academic hospital to reduce reported hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) rates. We introduced diagnostic stewardship and provider education, resulting in a 2-fold reduction in C. difficile nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) orders and markedly lower hospital CDI rate.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2018;39:734–736

Type
Concise Communications
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 39 , Issue 6 , June 2018 , pp. 734 - 736
Copyright
© 2018 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved 

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References

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