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Q&A: Outbreak Prevention and Response Week
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The week of Sept. 17, 2018, was the first annual Outbreak Prevention and Response Week, hosted by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America.
Throughout the week, SHEA shared resources and led events and activities for health care and infection control professionals, patients and families to raise awareness about ways to prevent the spread of infectious diseases.
According to SHEA, patients and providers are at risk when an outbreak occurs in the health care setting, regardless the size or type of outbreak.
Keith S. Kaye, MD, MPH, Infectious Disease News Editorial Board member, professor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at the University of Michigan Medical School and president of SHEA, spoke with Infectious Disease News about the importance of outbreak prevention and response and why this awareness week is so important. – by Marley Ghizzone
Why was Outbreak Prevention and Response Week created?
Outbreak Prevention and Response Week was developed to help raise awareness about how health care institutions can prevent, prepare for and respond to infectious disease outbreaks. We saw a need to inform the broader health care community about the different expertise and roles that are needed to optimize performance in these vital activities that keep patients, health care workers and the broader community safe — as well as to share resources to ensure that the best tools were being used. For infectious outbreaks to be successfully prevented or contained, it is necessary for these partnerships, knowledge and resources to be recognized and implemented before an outbreak.
What are some activities and events taking place this week?
We have planned activities for health care professionals that involve the sharing of valuable information in different formats. In addition, we plan to engage partner organizations like the Association of State and Territorial Health Officials, to help disseminate information and materials to key audiences. Other activities have included a Facebook live discussion, Twitter chat, webinar and the release of new research from SHEA’s journal, Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology.
What issues will be highlighted?
To help observe Outbreak Prevention and Response Week, we identified five themes, one for each weekday. These themes encompass aspects of outbreak prevention and response in acute-care setting and connections to important partners in the clinical and community settings:
Preventing health care-associated infections
Significant progress has been made in preventing many health care-associated infections, but hospitals must remain vigilant in identifying and maintaining infection control processes to reduce common infections and stay ahead of emerging pathogens.
Antibiotic stewardship and risk of multidrug - resistant organisms
Multidrug-resistant organisms are a growing threat. Antibiotic stewardship and safe prescribing practices play an important role in the fight against multidrug-resistant organisms. They are central to preventing the emergence and limiting the spread of these dangerous pathogens.
Partnerships: Public health and community response
Although the health care epidemiologist actively works as a leader in outbreak prevention and response, he or she must also communicate and coordinate with other infection control professionals in the community, as well as professionals at state and national agencies to help prevent, prepare for and manage disease outbreaks.
Preparedness: Resource allocation and outbreak response and incident management
During an epidemic, how well-prepared a facility is for an outbreak can dictate whether or not lives are saved or lost. Prevention of and preparedness for disease outbreaks require an ongoing commitment of resources so that health care professionals remain equipped to prevent, identify, manage and contain any outbreak at any time.
Sustainability: Research & funding
Research is vital to staying ahead of deadly disease outbreaks around the world. A lack of reliable funding can limit the pipeline for new health care epidemiologists and other researchers, which can delay new discoveries and limit the effectiveness of prevention and preparedness at all levels.
What areas of outbreak prevention and response need to be improved?
Resource allocation is a major issue that came to the forefront during the 2014-2015 Ebola response. Evidence of this issue was highlighted in a study published in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology titled, “Lessons Learned from Hospital Ebola Preparation.” The study found that hospital Ebola preparations required extraordinary resources, which were diverted from routine infection prevention activities. During a sample week of Ebola preparations, 80% of hospital epidemiology time was reported as having been committed to Ebola, amounting to a median of 160 hours of staff time per hospital. During the time that such effort was focused on Ebola, only 30% of routine infection prevention activities were completed.
There is a need for resources dedicated to outbreak prevention and response to ensure patients and health care personnel are not put at risk for routine health care-associated infections while staff respond to emerging outbreaks.
What is the take-home message?
Disease outbreaks are common in health care settings and put patients, as well as health care providers at risk. Outbreaks can range from difficult-to-treat infections, like MRSA, C. difficile or the flu, to deadly viruses like Ebola or SARS. No matter the size or type of outbreak, patients are at risk, and a highly coordinated effort and specialized expertise are required when any unusual pattern of illnesses is identified in a health care or community settings.
Disclosure: Kaye reports no relevant financial disclosures.