Becker's Clinical Quality & Infection Control

27 INFECTION PREVENTION / HAND HYGIENE How St. Luke's Boise Successfully Switched Cleaners, Lowered C. Diff Rates By Heather Punke C lostridium difficile is a chronic problem throughout the healthcare industry, as nearly 500,000 Americans get a C. diff infection each year even though this infection is generally preventable. Even though St. Luke's Boise (Idaho) Medical Center has had lower-than-average C. diff infection rates, officials at the hospital are still focused on preventing deadly infections caused by the bacteria. "We have always worked on C. diff rates and how to improve them. Even though they were fairly good, [we were] never satisfied with the status quo," says Nikki Grae, director of quality and patient safety at St. Luke's Boise Medical Center. St. Luke's C. diff infection rates hovered around 8.4 infections per 10,000 patient days. To lower that rate, the hospital first turned to cleaning all high-touch objects with bleach, which is very effective at killing C. diff. But there were several issues with using bleach extensively as a cleaner, according to Meredith Hotchkiss, RN, the hospital's environmental services director. "e smell was really bothering people," Ms. Hotchkiss says. e smell and surface burns associated with bleach even led to a few workers compensation claims at the hospital. Additionally, the bleach was starting to damage some of the finishes in the hospital, and the hospital wasn't seeing the reduction in C. diff rates that it wanted by using the bleach- heavy protocol. Moving away from bleach Because of the issues associated with the increased use of bleach and the lack of results, hospital officials decided the next course of action would be to move away from the chemical and start using a bundled approach with a different cleaner. e bundled approach involved targeting hand hygiene compliance and antimicrobial stewardship, as well as switching to OxyCide, a disinfectant cleaner from Ecolab Healthcare. "We were told about a new disinfectant [that] was supposed to be much better for finishes and for health," Ms. Hotchkiss explains. "For the health of our staff and our patients and the appearance of our facility, we decided to do it." We were told about a new disinfectant [that] was supposed to be much better for finishes and for health. For the health of our staff and our patients and the appearance of our facility, we decided to do it. — Meredith Hotchkiss, RN " "

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