respond to a multitude of issues related to infection control and prevention

Identifying Gaps

ECRI Institute’s consulting helps providers respond to a multitude of issues related to infection control and prevention

On any given day in the United States, about 1 in 25 hospital patients has at least one healthcare-associated in

fection (HAI), according to estimates.

Indeed, there are quite a few areas that create vulnerabilities for infections at hospitals and health systems, said James Davis, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, HEM, CIC, FAPIC, Senior Infection Prevention & Patient Safety Analyst/Consultant, ECRI Institute.

For example, lapses in sterilization and high-level disinfection are especially concerning, he said. There are environmental and construction-related factors. Handhygiene is a well-known concern for the spread of infections.

“ECRI’s engineering team has performed comparative evaluations in our testing laboratory of automated hand hygiene devices and equipment to help hospitals know which products are best for reducing infection risks,” said Davis. “Other areas of vulnerability involve infection prevention program management, medical device

issues broadly, as well as infection prevention considerations in the selection and procurement of equipment and devices.”

Consultation ECRI receives a broad range of requests from hospitals and healthcare systems for infection prevention and control (IPC) consultation. To meet those requests, ECRI has developed an IPC consultation that is led by certified infection control-prepared experts with advanced degrees.

“Behind each consultant stands the power of ECRI’s full knowledgebase of multi-disciplinary experts, making ECRI unique in these consultations,” said James Davis, MSN, RN, CCRN-K, HEM, CIC, FAPIC, Senior Infection Prevention & Patient Safety Analyst/Consultant, ECRI Institute.

The following are best practices ECRI helps hospitals and health systems develop for better infection prevention:

ʯ Situational awareness

processes, policies, procedures, supply procurement and facility risk assessment – (EBOLA, SARS, Influenza, COVID-19)

ʯ Health IT: For example, modification of the electronic health record to capture process and outcome measures for infection-related issues. The Partnership for Health IT Patient Safety, a multi-stakeholder collaborative convened and operated by ECRI Institute looks at these types of issues and our infection preventionists add to the content where/ when appropriate.

ʯ Regulatory and certification preparedness and response to regulators/inspectors.