Tools and Resources for Health Care Providers, Patients and Caregivers
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U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) Action Plan to Prevent HAIs
HHS Resources for Consumers and Providers
Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ)
Features a National Web-based resource that posts news and resources on patient safety, including HAIs.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
Provides links to CDC resources, including estimates of HAIs, lists of infectious diseases in health care settings, and information on antimicrobial resistance.
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS)
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Hospital-Acquired Conditions Present on Admission Indicator
Features CMS’ list of conditions that hospitals will not receive additional payment for if one of the conditions was not present on admission.
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Hospital-Acquired Conditions Fact Sheet (PDF Download 1.6MB)
Offers a fact sheet on conditions that hospitals will not receive additional payment for if one of the conditions was not present on admission.
Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Provides information on topics of interest to consumers, including infections, medicines, and recalls.
National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID)
Offers information on antimicrobial drug resistance, including its causes, diagnosis, and treatment.
National Library of Medicine (NLM)
Links to information on bacteria, including preventing and treating infections.
American Hospital Association
The AHA is a not-for-profit association of health care provider organizations and individuals that are committed to the improvement of health in their communities. The AHA is the national advocate for its members, which includes more than 5,000 member hospitals, health systems and other health care organizations, and 38,000 individual members. Founded in 1898, the AHA provides education for health care leaders and is a source of information on health care issues and trends. Their website offers a variety of resources for health care organizations on quality improvement, hospital trends and policy research.
Association for Professionals in Infection Prevention and Epidemiology (APIC).
APIC is a membership organization of Infection Prevention and Control experts with many infection prevention resources and materials.
Infectious Diseases Society of America
The Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) represents physicians, scientists and other health care professionals who specialize in infectious diseases. IDSA’s purpose is to improve the health of individuals, communities, and society by promoting excellence in patient care, education, research, public health, and prevention relating to infectious diseases. The site offers resources and advocacy tools.
Institute for Health Care Improvement (IHI)
IHI’s mission is to promote the improvement of health care quickly and broadly. The website provides many tools and resources. One such resource is IHI’s Five Million Lives Campaign. The campaign formally ended in 2008 but there are many resources and materials still available on HAI Prevention and Team Building.
The Joint Commission
An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission accredits and certifies more than 17,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. Joint Commission accreditation and certification is recognized nationwide as a symbol of quality that reflects an organization’s commitment to meeting certain performance standards.
National Quality Forum’s Safe Practices for Better Health Care
Features a document listing 34 safe practices that should be universally used in applicable clinical care settings to reduce the risk of harm to patients.
The Society for Health Care Epidemiology of America (SHEA)
SHEA works to maintain the utmost quality of patient care and health care worker safety in all health care settings.
On the Cusp: Stop Blood Stream Infections
On the CUSP: Stop HAI is a joint effort of the Health Research & Educational Trust (HRET), the Johns Hopkins University Quality and Safety Research Group (JHU QSRG), and the Michigan Health and Hospital Association Keystone Center for Patient Safety and Quality (MHA Keystone), through a contract with the Agency for Health Care Research and Quality (AHRQ), to dramatically reduce hospital-acquired infections in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.Focusing on the prevention of central line-associated bloodstream infections, the campaign works to improve safety and overcome mistakes in clinical settings, by integrating safety practices into the daily work of participating hospitals. It also provides tools for implementation, focusing on staff education and empowerment, equipment availability/modifications, and improved evaluation techniques and procedures. Although national in scope, On the Cusp encourages hospitals to localize the campaign resources to best suit their individual programs.
Safe Care Campaign
HAI-focused campaign that was started by a couple who have close family members who were affected by an HAI, the campaign is both consumer and provider-focused. The campaign has produced a number of materials, including prevention guides (in the form of online content and Web video shorts) for consumers, and training kits and videos for providers. The consumer message places a strong emphasis on patient participation in care as a way to reduce medical errors and prevent HAIs. The campaign stresses hand hygiene and other best practice prevention behavior to reduce HAIs. The founders’ point of view is that health care providers and patients need to be partners in health care.
Safe Patient Project (Consumer’s Union)
This campaign aims to promote health care quality through the reduction of medical harms (including HAIs, drug safety, and physician accountability). The campaign website is very comprehensive, with considerable policy and advocacy information aimed at helping the public influence legislators. It serves primarily as an information portal, aggregating articles and reports at both the state and national levels. The site promotes public participation, encouraging visitors to submit stories about their personal experiences with HAIs or medical errors; sign petitions; view videos and Webinars; and share and link information.
Speak Up (The Joint Commission)
Messages focus broadly on patient empowerment and encourage patients to be active participants in their care. "You are the center of the health care team" is one of the key messages.
Hand Hygiene
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CDC Hand Hygiene Education
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Hand Hygiene Interactive Training Course
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World Health Organization (WHO): Save Lives: Clean Your Hands Campaign
Features an overview of the campaign and offers tools and resources to prevent infections
Helpful Tools and Resources for HAI Prevention
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A Compendium of Strategies to Prevent Health Care-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals
The Compendium includes strategies to prevent all the top HAIs including central line-associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, ventilator-associated pneumonia, surgical site infections, MRSA, and clostridium difficile. -
Importance of the team-based approach in preventing HAIs
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Background of the Comprehensive Unit-Based Safety Program approach to preventing HAIs
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Information about barrier precautions for infection control
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Central Line Insertion Checklist
Health Care Personnel Influenza Vaccination
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Seasonal Flu
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Recommendations of the Health Care Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) and the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP)
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Information for Health Care Professionals
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Influenza Training
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SHEA Position Paper: Influenza Vaccination of Health Care Workers (PDF Download 390KB)
Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSIs)
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CDC FAQ Sheet (PDF Downlaod 191KB)
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Compendium of Strategies to Reduce CLABSIs in Acute Care Settings
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Guidelines for the Prevention of Intravascular Catheter-Related Infections
Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (CAUTIs)
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CDC FAQ Sheet (PDF Download 225KB)
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Compendium of Strategies to Reduce CAUTIs in Acute Care Settings
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Guide to Elimination of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections (PDF Download 1.2MB)
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HICPAC Guideline for Prevention of Catheter-Associated Urinary Tract Infections 2009
Surgical Site Infections (SSIs)
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CDC FAQ Sheet (PDF Download 208KB)
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Compendium of Strategies to Reduce SSIs in Acute Care Settings
Ventilator-Associated Pneumonias (VAPs)
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CDC FAQ Sheet (PDF Download 182KB)
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Compendium of Strategies to Reduce VAP in Acute Care Settings
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Guidelines for Preventing Health Care-Associated Pneumonia
Clostridium Difficile (C-Diff)
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CDC FAQ Sheet (PDF Download 177KB)
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2010 Update to the Compendium of Strategies to Reduce C difficile in Acute Care Settings (PDF Download 394KB)
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General Information About Clostridium difficile Infections
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Information for Health Care Providers
Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA)
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CDC FAQ Sheet (PDF Download 216KB)
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Compendium of Strategies to Reduce MRSA in Acute Care Settings
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MRSA Infections
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Information about MRSA for Health Care Personnel
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S. aureus and MRSA Surveillance Summary (2008)
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MRSA in Health Care Settings (for the General Public)
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MRSA Key Facts (podcast), Including Schools and Health Care Settings (for the General Public)
AHRQ Patient Safety Network (AHRQ PSNet)
Features a National Web-based resource that posts news and resources on patient safety, including HAIs.
APIC’s How to be a Good Visitor
Condition H: The Josie King Story (PDF Download 81.5KB)
Condition H means “Condition Help” – patients/families can initiate in the case of any change they notice in their loved one’s condition after they have tried to express an urgent concern to the health care team and felt they were not listened to or there is a conflict in an acute, emergent situation.
The Joint Commission’s Speak Up patient safety materials encourage patients to ask questions about their care and actively participate in health care decisionmaking.
Delivering Great Care: Engaging Patients and Families as Partners
Patient-Centered Communication
Environmental Services
Executives
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Leader Rounding (PDF Downlaod: Frankel, A et al. Patient Safety Leadership WalkRounds. 1.4MB)
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Raising Standards and Watching the Bottom Line
Infection Prevention and Clinicians
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AHRQ Morbidity and Mortality Rounds (AHRQ WebM&M)
Provides a searchable online journal and forum on patient safety and health care quality, including the topic of HAIs. Physicians and nurses can receive free continuing medical education (CME), continuing education units (CEU), or trainee certification by taking the Spotlight Quiz.
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AHRQ Patient Safety Organizations (PSOs)
PSOs are organizations that share the goal of improving the quality and safety of health care delivery. Organizations that are eligible to become PSOs include: public or private entities, profit or not-for-profit entities, provider entities such as hospital chains, and other entities that establish special components to serve as PSOs.
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APIC State-of-the-Art Report: The role of infection control during construction in health care facilities (PDF Download 160KB)
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APIC’s Elimination Guides
The Guides provide practical, evidence-based best practices for the elimination of specific infections. Each guide is designed for easy implementation and provides program interventions, surveillance methodology, and strategies for process improvement. Online tools and resources are available for many Elimination Guides.
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Guidance of Public Reporting of Health Care-Associated Infections (PDF Download 150KB)
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Guidelines for Environmental Infection Control in Health Care Facilities
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National Health Care Safety Network (NHSN)
NHSN is a voluntary, secure, internet-based surveillance system that integrates and expands legacy patient and health care personnel safety surveillance systems managed by CDC. Enrollment is open to all types of health care facilities in the United States.