Press release from the Indiana Department of Health:
Statewide Initiative to Help Identify and Prevent Infections
(INDIANAPOLIS, October 25, 2010) – The continual improvement of healthcare quality continues to be an objective for the Indiana State Department of Health. As part of collaborative quality improvement efforts, the Indiana State Department of Health announces the implementation of the Indiana Healthcare Associated Infection Initiative. This statewide initiative is aimed at the identification and prevention of healthcare associated infections (HAI).
The prevention initiative is part of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) grant that runs through December 2011. There are more than 180 Indiana health care facilities and agencies participating in the initiative to include hospitals, nursing homes, home health agencies, hospice agencies, ambulatory surgery centers and dialysis clinics.
“We are always striving to work with healthcare facilities and agencies to improve healthcare quality and to identify and prevent infections that are threats to Hoosiers,” said Terry Whitson, assistant commissioner, Health Care Quality and Regulatory. “These educational sessions will help healthcare facilities improve their infection control system by better identifying infection risks.”
In September, participating facilities and agencies attended instructional sessions on identifying healthcare associated infections and reporting through the CDC National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) reporting system. As part of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services certification program, hospitals will begin reporting central line associated bloodstream infections beginning January 2011.
The first educational sessions were conducted last week in Fishers. There will be five more at regional locations for initiative participants. Each session begins at 8:30 a.m. local time and concludes at 3:45 p.m. The following are the dates and locations of the sessions:
- Wednesday, Oct. 27, Hilton Garden Inn and Gillespie Conference Center, South Bend
- Thursday, Oct. 28, Holiday Inn, Fort Wayne
- Wednesday, Nov. 3, Holiday Inn Conference Center, Columbus
- Thursday, Nov. 4, Hilton Garden Inn, Evansville
For further information on the Indiana Healthcare Associated Infection Initiative, visit the ISDH’s Initiative Web page.
Related Images:
