It’s one simple page that may save a few lives
APIC: Spread the word on patient handout
It seems benign enough, with its simple language and cartoon bugs, a piece of paper like so many others that might be handed to patients or family members upon admission. But make no mistake about it, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) has put some powerful medicine in the hands of vulnerable patients with a newly designed education handout. [See APIC infographic with the online issue of Same-Day Surgery. For assistance, contact customer service at (800) 688-2421. The APIC patient handout also is available online at http://professionals.site.apic.org.]
Spread the word.
"We are putting a huge communications push behind this," says Carol McLay RN, MPH, DrPH, CIC, chair of the APIC communications committee. "Not to just media outlets themselves, but we are going to a lot of different healthcare associations, organizations. We’re hoping we can really create a groundswell."
Some 100,000 patients die every year of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), a good portion of which almost certainly can be prevented. Time to empower the patient and bring infection prevention to the bedside. A single break in technique could be all that stands between the frail immune system of a family member and a teeming colony of antibiotic-resistant bacteria coming down the hall on the hands of a healthcare worker.
Created after a few brainstorming sessions recently in Fort Lauderdale at APIC’s annual meeting, the simple handout holds the potential to literally save lives.
Liz Garman, APIC communications director, said, "We tried to distill this down to the most important elements and put it into a much more visual format."
Of course APIC’s infographic urges patients to wash their hands often and reminds healthcare workers to do the same. But it also includes simple tips and reminders about an antimicrobial bath before surgery, injection safety, and questions about whether your catheter is still medically indicated. Concerning the latter, for example, medical epidemiologist and UTI researcher Sanjay Saint, MD, warns that each day a urinary catheter remains in place the patient runs about a 5% risk of acquiring a urinary tract infection (UTI). He also has found that catheters can be "lost in place" by busy medical staff, which can heighten the risk of infection and a cascade of other adverse events by creating a bacterial highway to the bladder.1
Infection control and HAIs are now much more understood by the public than in the past, but one still must wonder if a few administrators might be a little reluctant to remind patients of the real threat of infections. Will they hand out the handout?
McLay says, "I’m sure there are some hospitals that may be a little hesitant to use it, but for the most part we are beyond that in this new age of transparency. Patients need to be empowered and informed so they can play an active role in their care. We want every patient in the hospital to have a copy of this. I would love it if when patients are first admitted to the hospital they receive [the APIC handout] in their admission packet along with a big bottle of hand sanitizer."
- Saint S, Kowalski CP, Kaufman SR. Preventing hospital-acquired urinary tract infection in the United States: A national study. Clin Infect Dis 2008; 46:243-250.
