Prone Patient Challenges and Centralized Surveillance Systems Discussed at APIC 2022

Video

One key opinion leader speaks of infection prevention challenges with prone patients and benefits of centralized surveillance systems in 2 separate presentations at the APIC 2022 annual conference.

Centralized surveillance systems are beneficial for infection prevention in any facility. But how does a centralized surveillance system (CSS) work, and what are the benefits for infection preventionists to be involved in the CSS program? How does a facility overcome the resistance to the CSS from IPs?

Sara Reese, PhD, MPH, CIC, FAPIC, System Director of Infection Prevention, SCL Health, Englewood, Colorado, answered these and other questions in her presentation, “Centralized Surveillance - A Tale of 2 Systems” at the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) 2022 Annual Conference, held June 13-15, 2022, in Indianapolis, Indiana.

“As infection preventionists (IPs), our role has changed quite a bit over the last 10 years and even the last 2 years with a pandemic,” Reese told ICT®, “And so a lot more of our time is demanded to go out on the floors, interact with staff, and be subject matter experts in a lot of different areas of the hospital. And so with a centralized surveillance team, you have a group of specialists that that's all they do; they are specialists in doing surveillance.”

Reese also gave an on-demand presentation, “Proned Patients and Infection Prevention - A Conundrum!” at the APIC conference. Among the questions: she answered were what are the challenges for IPs with prone patients, and how do IPs overcome those challenges?

“I think we all acknowledge that proning is difficult positioning for patient to keep safe from infections. It would be useful just to creatively think about how to prevent infections in this population,” Reese said. “The approach that [I discuss in my presentation about a] hospital took was it was a huge partnership with nursing and supply chain and trying to find the best solution for a really challenging problem. And so it would be interesting to see what other IPs do to manage this position and HAI (health care-acquired infection) prevention.”

Related Videos
Set of white bottles with cleaning liquids on the white background. (Adobe Stock 6338071172112 by zolnierek)
Medical investigators going over data. (AdobeStock 589197902 by Wasan)
CDC logo is seen on a laptop. (Adobe Stock 428450603 by monticellllo)
Association for the Health Care Environment (Logo used with permission)
COVID-19 germs, fungi, bacteria objects. (Adobe Stock 584704860 by chawalit)
Ambassador Deborah Birx, , speaks with Infection Control Today about masks in schools and the newest variant.
mRNA technology  (Adobe Stock 485886181 by kaptn)
Ambassador Deborah Birx, MD
Woman lying in hospital bed (Adobe Stock, unknown)
Photo of a model operating room. (Photo courtesy of Indigo-Clean and Kenall Manufacturing)
Related Content