Prone Patient Challenges and Centralized Surveillance Systems Discussed at APIC 2022

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.”