APIC Members Appointed to Steering Committee and Technical Advisory Panels for NQF Consensus Project

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Twenty-six members of the Association for Professionals in Infection Prevention and Control (APIC) will participate in a project designed to set new standards in infection prevention and control for the nations healthcare institutions.

The National Quality Forum (NQF) launched a ground-breaking project earlier this year to set performance measures to be used by healthcare facilities to publicly report infection information data. As part of its ongoing collaboration with APIC, the NQF invited APIC members to serve on the projects steering committee and technical advisory panels (TAPs).

The project, expected to be completed in February 2007 and titled, National Voluntary Consensus Standards for the Reporting of Healthcare-Associated Infection Data, results from a national consensus conference sponsored by APIC in 2005, after which APIC and other stakeholder organizations commissioned the NQF to create standards surrounding the mandatory public reporting of infection data. 

Infection prevention and control professionals have always been on the front lines of patient safety, said APICs Executive Director Kathy L. Warye, Now they will be at the table where decisions will be made on how infections should be collected and reported.  We are proud that so many of the APIC members we nominated will be a part of this historical undertaking.

The project will address the following adult and/or pediatric population infection measures: intravascular catheters and bloodstream infections; surgically implanted devices; indwelling catheters and urinary tract infections; respiratory infections, including those associated with ventilators; gastrointestinal infections; and surgical site infections. 

The steering committee will work with NQF staff on the national standards consensus development process. TAPs will provide the technical foundation for steering committee discussions.

The following APIC members will serve participate in the consensus project:

 

Steering Committee

-- Elaine Larson, RN, CIC, PhD, professor and associate dean for research, Columbia University, School of Nursing, New York

-- Tammy Lundstrom, MD, JD, senior vice president and chief quality and safety officer, Detroit Medical Center, Detroit

-- Jane D. Siegel, MD, professor of pediatrics, University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center, Dallas

-- Michael Tapper, MD, Director, Division of Infectious Disease, Lenox Hill Hospital, New York

 

Intravascular Catheters and Bloodstream Infections TAP

-- Kim Delahanty, RN, lead infection control practitioner, University of California, San Diego Medical Center, San Diego

-- Rita D. McCormick, RN, CIC, senior infection control practitioner, University of Wisconsin Hospital and Clinics, Madison, Wis.

-- Leonard A. Mermel, DO, ScM, Medical Director, Department of Infection Control, Rhode Island Hospital and Division of Infectious Diseases; Brown Medical School, Providence, R.I.

 

Indwelling Catheters and Urinary Tract Infections TAP

-- William Claiborne Dunagan, MD, vice president of quality, Barnes-Jewish Healthcare, St. Louis

-- Gina Pugliese, RN, MS, vice president, Safety Institute Premier, Inc., Chicago, IL

Sanjav Saint, MD, associate professor of medicine, University of Michigan Medical Center, Ann Arbor, Mich.

-- Sue Sebazco, RN, BS, CIC, infection control/employee health director, Arlington Memorial Hospital, Arlington, Texas

-- Arjun Srinivasan, MD, medical epidemiologist, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta

-- Richard A. Van Enk, PhD, director of infection control and epidemiology, Bronson Methodist Hospital, Kalamazoo, Mich.

 

Ventilator and Respiratory Infections TAP

-- Raed Khoury, Director of Patient Safety, John Muir/Mt. Diablo Health System, Walnut Creek, Calif.

-- C. Glen Mayhall, MD, professor, healthcare epidemiologist, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, Texas

-- Beverly Mihalko, MPH, BS, MT, CIC, corporate director of infection control, Oakwood Healthcare System, Dearborn, MI

-- Denise Murphy, RN, vice president and chief safety and quality officer, Barnes-Jewish Hospital, St. Louis

-- Shannon Oriola, RN, CIC, COHN, director of infection control, Sharp Metropolitan Medical Campus, San Diego

 

Surgical Site Infections TAP

-- William E. Scheckler, MD, hospital epidemiologist, St. Marys Hospital Medical Center, Madison, Wis.

-- Rachel L. Stricof, MT, MPH, epidemiologist, New York State Department of Health, Albany, N.Y.

-- Rodney Thompson, MD, infection control officer, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, Minn.

 

Pediatric Infections TAP

-- Susan Coffin, MD, medical director, Department of Infection Prevention Control, Childrens Hospital of Philadelphia, Philadelphia, PA

-- Craig Gilliam, BSMT, CIC, hospital epidemiologist, Arkansas Childrens Hospital, Little Rock, Ark.

 

Implementation and Reporting TAP

-- Eddie Hedrick, MT, emerging infections coordinator, Missouri Department of Health and Human Senior Services, Jefferson City, Mo.

-- Teresa C. Horan, MPH, leader, Performance Measurement Team, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta

-- Peggy Thompson, RN, BSN, CIC, director of epidemiology, Vascular Access Team, Tampa General Hospital, Tampa, Fla.

Source: APIC