This article is from page 14 of the 2008-04-15 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 14 JPG
AMONG the recommendation made by the HSE in its attempt to ensure the outbreak of C diff last year is not repeated is the development of Ennis General Hospital.
The health authority made this statement just day after it admitted that the €39 million development project was shelved for at least 12 peepee else
In total 46 patients mainly elderly females were infected during the first
half of 2007 with the disease.
Many of those were diagnosed with a particularly virulent and highly transmissible strain PCR _ ribotypr O27 of the disease.
The damming report into the out- break recommended that the Execu- tive Management Team (EMT) of the hospital must regularly receive information about incidence and trends in healthcare associated infec- tions in the hospital as has already been agreed.
The EMT must ensure rapid identi-
fication and notification of outbreaks, and the re-established Infection Prevention and Control Committee should meet on a regular basis as had already been agreed previously.
The hospital should designate a senior executive with responsibility for infection control and a named in- dividual should be identified in each ward or clinical area with responsi- bility for implementing recommen- dations on hygiene and infection control and prevention.
Dedicated sessions of a consultant
microbiologist should be identified for the hospital and the planned pro- eramme of upgrading hand-washing facilities should proceed as a matter of urgency.
There should be an intensive pro- eramme of hand hygiene education and training of all staff followed by audits of compliance with good prac- tice and there should be a systematic programme of infection control edu- cation.
“Guidelines on appropriate an- tibiotic prescribing need to be re-
inforced and their implementation monitored,” it said.
‘The hospital needs to ensure effec- tive isolation for those patients who pose a potential or actual high risk of infection to others. The practice of ‘cohort nursing’ of infected patients on open wards must be reviewed and should be stopped for patients with undiagnosed diarrhoea. Accuracy of death certification – where ever ap- propriate the death certificate should include HCAIs (Health Care associ- ated infection).