Author: IPRO

Preventing Falls in Hospitals

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

Each year, somewhere between 700,000 and 1,000,000 people in the United States fall in the hospital. A fall may result in fractures, lacerations, or internal bleeding, leading to increased health care utilization. Research shows that close to one-third of falls can be prevented. Fall prevention involves managing a patient’s underlying fall risk factors and optimizing the hospital’s physical design and environment. This toolkit focuses on overcoming the challenges associated with developing, implementing, and sustaining a fall prevention program.

Core Elements of Human Antibiotic Stewardship Programs in Resource-Limited Settings

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

This Core Elements is a guide for antibiotic stewardship program implementation in resource-limited settings that have fragile health systems and lack robust, regulatory frameworks. It builds off the Core Elements resources originally created for U.S. healthcare settings to outline structures and functions associated with effective programs. The guide contains practical, high-impact strategies based on both expert opinion as well as experiences in implementing antibiotic stewardship programs at the national and facility-levels to improve antibiotic use and fight antibiotic resistance. The guide provides a range of activities that a government or individual facility can implement based on the resources available.

Implementation of Antibiotic Stewardship Core Elements at Small and Critical Access Hospitals

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

This document provides guidance on practical strategies to implement antibiotic stewardship programs in small and critical access hospitals. The suggestions provided are based on discussions with staff in small and critical access hospitals, several of which have implemented all of the CDC Core Elements.

Core Elements of Hospital Antibiotic Stewardship Programs

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

Optimizing the use of antibiotics is critical to effectively treat infections, protect patients from harms caused by unnecessary antibiotic use, and combat antibiotic resistance. Antibiotic stewardship programs can help clinicians improve clinical outcomes and minimize harms by improving antibiotic prescribing. The Core Elements are intended to be an adaptable framework that hospitals can use to guide efforts to improve antibiotic prescribing. The assessment tool that accompanies this document can help hospitals identify gaps to address.

Laboratory Assessment – Targeted Assessment for Prevention (TAP) Facility Assessment Tool; Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI)

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

The questions in this section are laboratory-specific and should be directed to the facility’s laboratory director or other staff that have knowledge of the
practices at the laboratory that performs the facility’s C. difficile testing.

U.S. National Action Plan for Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria (National Action Plan)

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

The National Action Plan directs federal agencies to accelerate response to antibiotic resistance by presenting coordinated, strategic actions to improve the health and well-being of all Americans across the One Health spectrum. It has pushed transformative improvements across the country that strengthen and expand the ability to respond to these threats. The National Action Plan supports five main goals: 1. Slow the Emergence of Resistant Bacteria and Prevent the Spread of Resistant Infections; 2. Strengthen National One Health Surveillance Efforts to Combat Resistance; 3. Advance Development and Use of Rapid and Innovative Diagnostic Tests for Identification and Characterization of Resistant Bacteria; 4. Accelerate Basic and Applied Research and Development for New Antibiotics, Other Therapeutics, and Vaccines; and 5. Improve International Collaboration and Capacities for Antibiotic-Resistance Prevention, Surveillance, Control and Antibiotic Research and Development.

Guidelines for the Prevention of Intravascular Catheter-related Infection (BSI)

Centers for Disease Control (CDC)

These guidelines have been developed for healthcare personnel who insert intravascular catheters and for persons responsible for surveillance and control of infections in hospital, outpatient, and home healthcare settings. The guidelines provide a summary of recommendations to prevent Intravascular Catheter-Related Infections.

Toolkit for Reducing Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infections

Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ)

The Toolkit for Reducing Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSI) can help your unit implement evidence-based practices to reduce and, in many cases, eliminate CLABSI. More than 1,000 intensive care units across the country reduced CLABSI rates by 41 percent when their clinical teams used the tools in this toolkit along with the Core CUSP Toolkit. The Core CUSP Toolkit provides training materials and resources to help clinical teams learn a method that can help them make care safer by combining improved teamwork, clinical best practices, and the science of safety.