Highlights
- •Studies examining the impact of certification in acute care settings used cross-sectional designs with a quality rating of good to high.
- •CIC status of individual infection preventionists was associated with greater perception of evidence strength for several infection prevention practices.
- •Hospitals hiring certified infection preventionists were more likely to implement certain infection prevention practices.
- •The association between hiring certified infection preventionists and health care associated-infection rates at hospital level was inconsistent.
ABSTRACT
Background
Health care-associated infection (HAI) is a common adverse event affecting patient
safety. This review aims to (1) establish evidence for the impact of certified infection
prevention and control (CIC) specialists on infection prevention and patient safety
in acute care settings and (2) summarize study design and statistical modeling used
for impact assessment to inform future studies.
Methods
We searched and reviewed full-text, quantitative studies assessing the impact of CIC.
The studies used empirical data published in English between January 2000 and April
2021 in PubMed, PsycINFO, and EMBASE. We identified 8 articles for data extraction
and analysis. All eight studies used a cross-sectional design and had a quality rating
of good to high based on the Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice rating
scales.
Results
CIC infection preventionists (IPs) may have a stronger understanding than other practitioners
of the evidence for certain infection prevention practices and are more likely to
recommend implementing them in the hospitals where they work, especially when the
lead IP is certified. The association between CIC and HAI rates was inconsistent in
our results.
Discussion and Conclusions
Further studies are needed to explore the impact of CIC IPs on HAI rates.
Key Words
To read this article in full you will need to make a payment
Purchase one-time access:
Academic & Personal: 24 hour online accessCorporate R&D Professionals: 24 hour online accessOne-time access price info
- For academic or personal research use, select 'Academic and Personal'
- For corporate R&D use, select 'Corporate R&D Professionals'
Subscribe:
Subscribe to American Journal of Infection ControlAlready a print subscriber? Claim online access
Already an online subscriber? Sign in
Register: Create an account
Institutional Access: Sign in to ScienceDirect
References
- The critical care safety study: the incidence and nature of adverse events and serious medical errors in intensive care.Crit Care Med. 2005; 33: 1694-1700
- To err is human: building a safer health system in 1999.Front Health Serv Manage. 2001; 18: 1
- The impact of medical errors on ninety-day costs and outcomes: an examination of surgical patients.Health Serv Res. 2008; 43: 2067-2085
- The economics of health care quality and medical errors.J Health Care Finance. 2012; 39: 39-50
- Multistate point-prevalence survey of health care-associated infections.N Eng J Med. 2014; 370: 1198-1208
- Medicare and Medicaid programs; reform of hospital and critical access hospital conditions of participation. Final rule.Fed Regist. 2012; 77: 29034-29076
Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Available at: https://www.cbic.org/CBIC.htm. Accessed February 17, 2020.
The infection prevention profession – Preliminary results from the APIC MegaSurvey. Available at: https://apic.org/Resource_/TinyMceFileManager/mediaImages/Megasurvey_infographic_Final.pdf. Accessed July 7, 2019
- Preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses: the PRISMA statement.Int J Surg. 2010; 8: 336-341
- Evaluating the quality of medical care.The Milbank Memorial Fund Quarterly. 1966; 44: 166
- The Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-based Practice Rating Scale.The Johns Hopkins Hospital; Johns Hopkins University School of Nursing, Baltimore, MD2005
- Perceived strength of evidence supporting practices to prevent health care-associated infection: results from a national survey of infection prevention personnel.Am J Infect Control. 2013; 41: 100-106
- Health care personnel immunization programs: an assessment of knowledge and practice among infection preventionists in US health care facilities.Am J Infect Control. 2013; 41: 581-584
- Use of central venous catheter-related bloodstream infection prevention practices by US hospitals.Mayo Clin Proc. 2007; 82: 672-678
- Preventing ventilator associated pneumonia in the United States: a multicenter mixed-methods study.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2008; 29: 933
- Wide variation in adoption of screening and infection control interventions for multidrug-resistant organisms: a national study.Am J Infect Control. 2012; 40: 696-700
- Correlation of prevention practices with rates of health care-associated Clostridioides difficile infection.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2020; 41: 52-58
- The relationship between infection prevention staffing levels, certification, and publicly reported hospital-acquired condition scores.Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2017; 38: 1370-1371
- Certification in infection control matters: impact of infection control department characteristics and policies on rates of multidrug-resistant infections.Am J Infect Control. 2012; 40: 96-101
Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). APIC calls for properly trained infection prevention expertise in all New York State nursing homes. Available at: https://apic.org/apic-calls-for-properly-trained-infection-prevention-expertise-in-all-new-york-state-nursing-homes/. Accessed June 17, 2022.
Article Info
Publication History
Published online: June 25, 2022
Publication stage
In Press Journal Pre-ProofFootnotes
Funding/support: The study is funded by the Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.
Conflicts of interest: None to report.
Identification
Copyright
© 2022 Published by Elsevier Inc. on behalf of Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc.
