Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

7 INFECTION CONTROL & PATIENT SAFETY 6 insights into endoscope reprocessing and how to ensure guideline adherence By Eric Oliver E ndoscope reprocessing is still an issue of utmost importance, Gastroenterolo- gy & Endoscopy News reported. G&E spoke with several experts to compile reprocessing tips for practices. Six insights: 1. New York City-based NYU Langone Medi- cal Center clinical professor Jonathan Cohen, MD, said to G&E that centers need to prioritize reprocessing and establish group buy-in. "e endoscopy unit must maintain the high- est standards, not just in terms of equipment, but also training, personnel and competency assessment to ensure that the people cleaning the scopes are following all of the steps cor- rectly every time," Dr. Cohen said. 2. Centers should have training in place and conduct at least a biannual assessment of staff competency, Dr. Cohen said. 3. Seattle-based Swedish Medical Center gastroenterologist Jack Brandabur, MD, reiterated the importance of having properly trained staff. 4. e November 2012 Escherichia coli out- break at Seattle-based Virginia Mason Med- ical Center re-emphasized the importance of endoscope reprocessing, Dr. Brandabur said. "ey had been doing everything right and still had an outbreak, so that was a wake-up call for us that this is a critical piece of our workflow within our endoscopy unit, and patients' lives depend on it." 5. Renton, Wash.-based Providence St. Joseph Health, Swedish's parent system, re- tooled its reprocessing system in light of the outbreak. e health system implemented a rigorous training process for its reprocessing technicians, including a training course and a quarterly recertification process. 6. Drs. Brandabur and Cohen also stressed the importance of patient communication regarding reprocessing. "Every patient needs to know that there is a small but very real risk of infection with this equipment," Dr. Brandabur said. n Training lapses may have led to rise in C. diff infections at VA hospital By Anne-Marie Kommers F ailure to adequately train housekeeping staff may have contrib- uted to growing rates of potentially deadly infections at Loma Linda, Calif.-based Jerry L. Pettis Memorial Veterans Hospital, according to a report released June 18 from the Department of Vet- erans Affairs Office of Inspector General. Five report findings: 1. The report confirms a separate 2018 VA investigation, which found the medical center's executives hid information from staff on the presence of Legionella bacteria in the water system. Data from the center found 33 positive water test results for Legionella from 2017 and 2018. 2. The new report also found the medical center was unclean and had furnishings in disrepair. The center's Environmental Management Services Department had no standard procedure for cleaning and facility sanitization. 3. The lack of housekeeping training may have been a contributing factor in a two-year increase in Clostridium difficile infections at the medical center, with 32 cases in 2016 and 36 in 2017. 4. Five hundred and thirty-four medical center staff members failed to consistently undergo required blood-borne pathogens training during the period of May 2016-March 2018. 5. The hospital received one star from the VA in 2018 for its medical facilities, which is the lowest possible rating. n How 1 health system saved $515K with antiseptic bathing By Anne-Marie Kommers B athing every patient in chlorhexidine gluconate decreases the infection rate and cost of numerous health- care-associated infections, according to a study presented June 12 at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology Conference in Philadelphia. To conduct the study, researchers imple- mented CHG bathing of all patients in a Syracuse, N.Y., healthcare system in April 2017 and educated staff about the proce- dure. They found the bathing reduced cen- tral line-associated bloodstream infections by 65 percent, cutting costs by $226,785 at a rate of $17,445 per CLABSI. Catheter-associated urinary tract infections decreased by 30 percent, MRSA bacteria by 100 percent and Clostridium difficile by 28 percent, according to Healio. The total cost reduction for the health system was about $515,000 from April 2017 to March 2018. The CHG bathing cost $40,114. n

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