C. difficile Story: A System-wide Partnership Leads to Dramatic Improvements

C. difficile Story: A System-wide Partnership Leads to Dramatic Improvements
A hospital system reduces positive cases of C. difficile and improves overall care

Wednesday, March 18, 2020
1 - 2 p.m. Eastern; noon - 1 p.m. Central; 10 - 11 a.m. Pacific

Pathologists and quality improvement staff at AMITA Health Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston, Ill., had a problem. The number of Clostridium difficile (more commonly known as C. difficile or C. diff) test-positive cases was higher than the guidelines set by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) with a standardized infection ratio (SIR) of 1.2 — anything greater than 1 indicates more infections than predicted given the baseline. Hospital staff suspected the problem was caused by a combination of factors, primary of which was the test method being used — a highly sensitive polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test — as well as the patients who were being tested, not all of whom met strict criteria for the test.

In this webinar, learn about the collaborative, system-wide initiative AMITA Health Saint Francis Hospital implemented to improve C. diff testing both by adjusting the tests being used and the patients being tested. The results were extremely positive for reducing the number of tests given and the amount of C. diff-positive cases, raising the quality of overall care with better outcomes, decreased costs, and improving patient satisfaction.

Attendees Will Learn:

• How a multidisciplinary hospital team collaborated to identify and implement process improvement measures for C. difficile screening.
• To assess the options a health system can use to improve testing algorithms for C. difficile.
• How to recognize opportunities for cost savings, reduced turnaround time and quality improvement measures for C. difficile screening.

Speaker:
Janis Atkinson, MD, FCAP
System Vice President Medical Affairs, Alverno Laboratories for AMITA Health; Medical Laboratory Director, AMITA Health Saint Francis Hospital
AMITA Health Saint Francis Hospital
Evanston, Ill.

Mary Haak, RN
Director of Quality and Patient Safety
AMITA Health Saint Francis Hospital
Evanston, Ill.