Logo Image
|Articles|August 12, 2015

Building a Foundation for CRE Control in Illinois

On CDC's Safe Healthcare blog, Erica Runningdeer, MSN, MPH, RN, healthcare-associated infection coordinator in the Division of Patient Safety and Quality at the Illinois Department of Public Health, discusses how the state of Illinois is building a foundation for Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE) control. The post is the second in a three-part series related to CDC’s August 2015 Vital Signs: Making Health Care Safer: Stop Spread of Antibiotic Resistance.

CDC modeling in the Vital Signs report projects that with a coordinated approach-that is, healthcare facilities and health departments in an area working together-up to 70 percent of life-threatening CRE infections could be prevented over five years. While the coordinated approach the Vital Signs report describes is a forward-looking approach, some states are already implementing the response in a variety of different ways. This three-part blog series spotlights the current efforts in Tennessee, Illinois and Wisconsin.

Learn more and join the conversation at: http://blogs.cdc.gov/safehealthcare/?p=4581. Read about Tennessee’s geographic variation of CRE and implications for prevention at: http://blogs.cdc.gov/safehealthcare/?p=4572. Stay tuned for part 3 of the blog series on Aug. 13.

Related to this article

View more
A group of students raising their hands in class during a lecture (Adobe Stock 292282454 by Mediteraneo
Once a Teacher, Always a Teacher: Why Infection Prevention Is Education
How do you celebrate an infection that never happened? That's one of the unusual challenges infection preventionists share with teachers. Both can spend their careers changing outcomes they may never see. Both educate people who don't always want to listen. Both are second-guessed. Both face burnout. And both must somehow keep remembering why they started.
Read more
Bug of the Month
Bug of the Month: You Never See Me Coming
The Bug of the Month helps educate readers about existing and emerging pathogens that are clinically important in today's health care facilities. This month’s Bug of the Month isn’t quite like anything we’ve featured before. Can you solve the clues before the final reveal?
Read more
Person washing hands. (Adobe Stock 200575602 By kieferpix)
From “Gotcha” to Coaching: Using RTLS to Improve Hand Hygiene
In this podcast with ICT, Danielle Updegraff, MBA, BSN, RN, discusses real-time location systems, which can give infection prevention teams greater visibility into hand hygiene, workflow, and infectious disease exposures, but sustainable improvement still depends on staff engagement, leadership, education, and culture.
Read more
A brightly lit Hospital operating room, a surgical team wearing gowns and masks. (Adobe Stock 1790696595 by Damian)
How Can OR Teams Improve Environmental Cleaning Between Surgical Cases?
Turnover pressure can leave critical OR cleaning steps unfinished. Karen deKay, MSN, RN, EBP-C, CNOR, CIC, FAPIC, examines common gaps in environmental hygiene and how shared responsibilities, attention to disinfectant contact time, and ongoing education can help teams strengthen practices between cases.
Read more