Background
Our institution continued to experience a hyperendemic situation with carbapenem-resistant
Acinetobacter baumannii despite a bundle of interventions. We aim to describe the effect of the subsequent
implementation of electronic dissemination of the weekly findings of a bundle of interventions.
Methods
This was a quasiexperimental study performed at a 1,500-bed, public, teaching hospital.
From January 2011 to March 2012, weekly electronic communications were sent to the
hospital leadership and intensive care units (ICUs). These communications aimed to
describe, interpret, and package the findings of the previous week’s active surveillance
cultures, environmental cultures, environmental disinfection, and hand cultures. Additionally,
action plans based on these findings were shared with recipients.
Results
During 42 months and 1,103,900 patient-days, we detected 438 new acquisitions of carbapenem-resistant
A baumannii. Hospital wide, the rate of acquisition decreased from 5.13 ± 0.39 to 1.93 ± 0.23
per 10,000 patient-days, during the baseline and postintervention periods, respectively
(P < .0001). This effect was also observed in the medical and trauma ICUs, with decreased
rates from 67.15 ± 10.56 to 17.4 ± 4.6 (P < .0001) and from 55.9 ± 8.95 to 14.71 ± 4.45 (P = .0004), respectively.
Conclusion
Weekly and systematic dissemination of the findings of a bundle of interventions was
successful in decreasing the rates of carbapenem-resistant A baumannii across a large public hospital.
Key Words
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Article info
Footnotes
Conflicts of interest: P.C. has served as a consultant and speaker for Ecolab. The remaining authors disclose no conflicts.
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© 2014 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
