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SHEA, CDC collaborate to prevent outbreaks in health care facilities
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The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America announced that they have partnered with the CDC in a project that will help supply infectious disease specialists with the tools they need to stop outbreaks in U.S. health care facilities.
“Hospital epidemiologists and infectious diseases physicians often develop, guide and lead health care personnel in the prevention and control of infectious diseases to keep patients, staff and visitors safe,” Louise Dembry, MD, MS, MBA, FSHEA, president of SHEA, told Infectious Disease News. “Ensuring these leaders have the information, resources and tools they need will enable on-the-ground teams to coordinate with each other and streamline their efforts to more effectively prevent and control infections when they’re needed most.”
With CDC funding, the 2-year project will focus on providing health care epidemiologists with the information and assistance necessary to prevent, control and investigate infectious disease outbreaks. SHEA will supply infection prevention personnel within acute care hospitals with resources such as:
- webinars, with topics such as communication during crises, conflict management and media training;
- in-person 2-day training workshops;
- ·online simulations, such as case study review and leadership review;
- expert guidance documents published in journals like SHEA’s Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology; and
- tool kits, including pocket guides, apps and interactive PDFs on preparedness, incident management and infection prevention measures during an outbreak.
SHEA also applied aspects of the U.S. Ebola outbreak in this project to improve future outbreak response and preparation in hospitals.
“The U.S. Ebola experience exposed gaps in staff knowledge, assigning responsibility for key roles ahead of time, as well as the appropriate level and frequency of support staff training on emerging pathogens,” Dembry explained. “This partnership will look to improve staff knowledge in key areas and offer technical assistance to help local teams improve preparedness for responding to outbreaks within their facility, as well as responding to novel and pandemic infections.”
To guide content development and resource management for the training program, SHEA has selected an expert advisory panel of 13 members. After completing a needs assessment among SHEA members, the panel will be able to determine gaps in knowledge and communicate the best practices to hospital epidemiologists. However, Dembry said “it’s too soon to know” how much it will cost to operate the training program.
“The funding for the training program will depend on resources needed to develop an effective program based on the findings from this needs assessment,” she continued.
A recent report issued by the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH) assessed public health preparedness policies and the nation’s ability to react to public health emergencies. They found a major lack of support for research and development of new medicines, vaccines and medical equipment to keep up with the threats of modern outbreaks and disease. Stronger partnerships among public health agencies are now more important than ever to help doctors find innovative ways to prepare for new threats and mass outbreaks. TFAH recommends that improving vaccination rates and increasing efforts to stop superbugs and antibiotic resistance be made top priorities in expanding infectious disease preparedness.
“While each outbreak situation is unique, understanding core response responsibilities, as well as training clinical and nonclinical staff members in proper infection prevention and control protocols can help ensure a smooth response if and when outbreaks emerge — no matter what emerges,” Dembry said. “Health care epidemiologists must be prepared at all times to lead a response to outbreaks at their institution, as well as perform surveillance of, and mount a response to, novel and pandemic infections that may extend beyond their institutions.” – by Savannah Demko
Reference:
Trust for America’s Health. (2016) Ready or Not? Protecting the Public from Diseases, Disasters and Bioterrorism. http://healthyamericans.org/newsroom/releases/?releaseid=352. Accessed December 28, 2016.
Disclosure: Dembry is president of the SHEA board of trustees. The project is being funded by the CDC. TFAH reports funding from a Robert Wood Johnson Foundation grant.