ID, food services teams collaborate to reduce foodborne infection risk
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Key takeaways:
- An investigation revealed more than 150 potential sources of foodborne infections in food preparation and storage areas at a hospital.
- Infection prevention compliance improved by 20% during the 18-month effort.
A collaborative effort between the departments of infection prevention and food and nutrition services at a hospital identified potential sources of foodborne infection, resulting in a reduced risk for infections, researchers reported.
Julia Thomas, CIC, MAOM, MT, infection preventionist at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center in Houston, and colleagues were motivated to conduct the study based on a CDC report that roughly half of all foodborne illness outbreaks in the United States can be traced back to restaurants and delicatessens.
“Sick food workers are a major culprit in this, and for a foodborne illness outbreak to be investigated, you only need two reports,” Thomas said during a presentation at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology annual meeting.
“So, it’s no wonder many health agencies encourage or require food safety certification for restaurant managers and workers,” she added.
The infection prevention and nutrition teams at Memorial Hermann, which sees 40,000 patients annually and has one of two level-1 trauma centers in Houston, worked together for 18 months to identify and mitigate potential sources for infection.
The hospital’s food services are provided by a 350-employee third-party contractor that prepares and serves 23,000 meals in full-service cafeterias, in addition to another 10,000 patient meals, per week.
After an assessment of environmental hygiene, food handling practices and infection prevention measures, Thomas and colleagues identified a set of areas that were not in compliance with state and federal health agency recommendations for infection prevention:
- wet nesting, or putting away pots, pans and kitchen items when they are still wet;
- dishwasher rinse cycles that do not meet required temperatures for proper cleaning;
- overall environmental cleanliness, including mopping, broken tiles or countertops, etc.;
- expired food items;
- labeling of foods, utensils and other items in food preparation areas;
- improper use of corrugated cardboard for storage;
- sanitizer bucket compliance; and
- inoperable equipment storage.
According to Thomas, the ID and nutrition teams increased inspection rounds and used compliance audits — more than 150 individual line items were identified — to ensure that best practices and infection control procedures were being followed. This, she said, resulted in a 20% improvement in compliance over the first year-and-a-half of the effort.
Thomas said that as they have continued to perform frequent audit rounds, they found less noncompliance, and the two teams have formed a partnership allowing the ID team to focus on all major components of the hospital, improving the provision of care.
“We think the major reason for success was a culture shift that happened where ID was not an afterthought but was acknowledged as a standalone pillar with the same weight and authority as other pillars [of hospital administration],” she said.
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Thomas J, et al. QAPI 21. Presented at: Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology annual meeting; June 3-5, 2024; San Antonio (hybrid).
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