News

Recent work from Northeastern University professor of biology Kim Lewis promises to over­come one of the leading public health threats of our time. In a ground­breaking study pub­lished Wednesday in the journal Nature, Lewis team presents a novel approach to treat and elim­i­nate methi­cillin-resis­tant Staphy­lo­coccus aureus (MRSA), a potent bac­terium whose resis­tance to antibi­otics has kept it one step ahead of researchers. That is, until now.

In an era of value-based purchasing, product evaluation and purchasing has been impacted by the continued cutbacks in healthcare spending and by the quest for improved quality and cost containment. As hospital administrators target various budget line items for reduction or eradication, they are looking closely at new products/technologies and existing supplies to see if they can be replaced with those that still perform well but are less costly. Infection Control Today spoke with Frank Myers, MA, CIC, infection preventionist III/Infection Prevention Clinical EPI for UC San Diego Health System, about how infection preventionists can play a more significant role in the products and technologies being evaluated and purchased. We also present the results of an ICT reader survey looking at the product evaluation and purchasing experiences of infection preventionists.

Estimates of healthcare-acquired infection in the U.S. underscore the need for a renewed focus on sustainable HAI prevention, but resources are required to uphold the viability of these programs. It is therefore necessary for infection preventionists to establish a business case for their programs and present it to their healthcare institution leadership. Murphy and Whiting (2007) define a business case as " A business case addresses at a high level the business need that the project seeks to resolve. It may include the reasons for the project, the expected business benefits, the options considered (with reasons for rejecting or carrying forward each option), and the expected costs of the project, a gap analysis and the expected risks. The option of doing nothing should be included with the costs and risks of inactivity included along with the differences (costs, risks, outcomes etc) between doing nothing and the proposed project."