Hospital-acquired infections affect every health organization. These infections may be caused by a variety of pathogens including bacterial, viruses, fungi and parasites. They can lead to increased morbidity, mortality and healthcare costs. Joining us to discuss their efforts to reduce hospital-acquired infections at SSM Health are Dr. Shephali Wulff, System Vice President of Quality and Safety and Chief Quality Officer and Chris Zirges, System Director of Infection Prevention.

Guest speakers: Shephali Wulff, DO System Vice President of Quality and Safety, Chief Quality Officer SSM Health

Chris Zirges, DNP, APRN-BC, CIC, FAPIC System Director of Infection Prevention SSM Health

Host: Courtney Furrow-White, MPM, RN Senior PI Program Director Vizient

Show Notes:

[:56] SSM Health infection prevention overview

[1:35] Current infection disease collaboration between four teams: infection disease physicians, infection prevention, microbiology and infection disease pharmacists

[2:43] Partnering with continuous improvement team to put hospital-acquired infection guidelines into a change package

[3:05] Over a span of two years, efforts led to 60% infection reduction for three targeted infections

[3:20] Challenges with standardizing the work

[4:15] Standardizing process structure and change framework

[7:00] Process checks to support freezing and/or unfreezing behavior for validity and sustainability

[10:00] Training modules and tools

[11:45] Focus strategy for monitoring and reducing other hospital-acquired infections

[14:40] Different processes are needed for patients that are entering care in different ways: i.e., elective vs emergent surgery vs. in-patient surgery

[15:20] Lessons learned

Links | Resources:

For more information: picollaboratives@vizientinc.com

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