A mandatory influenza vaccination program for HCP was essential to achieving high vaccination rates, despite years of intensive vaccination campaigns focused on increasing accessibility and convenience. Mandatory vaccination policies appear to successfully capture a large portion of HCP who are not opposed to receipt of the vaccine but who have not made vaccination a priority.

e In a retrospective cohort study of 1,140 patients harboring methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, the nasal burden was low in 31%, category 1؉ to 2؉ in 54%, and category 3؉ to 4؉ in 15%. There was a significant trend in infection risk with increasing nasal burden (P ‫؍‬ 0.007). In multivariate models, high nasal burden remained significantly associated with invasive infection.

C. difficile PCR testing identifies both colonized and infected patients, making it critical to only test patients that meet clinical criteria for C. difficile infection (CDI). We implemented an automated order-entry protocol that reduced inappropriate testing by 64% and hospital-onset (HO) CDI Standardized Infection Ratio (SIR) from 1.62 to 0.82.

Background:The transmission and infection risk associated with multidrug-resistant organism (MDRO) carriers necessitates surveillance and tracking to provide proper contact precautions. As MDROs increase in scope, automated electronic health record (EHR) systems may help with surveillance demands.Methods: We created a system for MDROs and Clostridium difficile tracking that automated the following 3 main surveillance and tracking activities: monitoring of microbiology results and initiation of chart-based flags, ordering of contact precautions on admission, and ensuring appropriate removal of precautions.Results: Automation saved 43 infection preventionist hours per 1,000 admissions, in addition to previously unquantified hours spent reviewing MDRO history for every admission. Automatic retiring of certain MDRO flags ensured removal of contact precautions after a specified time. A point-prevalence assessment for eligibility for discontinuation found that all precautions were appropriate, with none eligible for removal. By integrating microbiology data, EHR tracking flags, and automated orders, this system assured rapid and comprehensive placement of patients into contact precautions without requiring oversight by infection prevention personnel. Conclusion:We show that automated systems embedded within EHRs can ensure tracking and application of appropriate contact precautions while simultaneously producing tremendous time savings for infection prevention programs.