Get on the Fast Track to Eliminating Hospital Acquired Infections (HAIs)

• Where do you start? The array research on preventing HAIs could fill a patient room but research quality is not equal. This leaves the door open for disagreement and resistance among staff—and ultimately, a slow and only marginally effective change in practice.
• And how will you get everyone on board? Because the initiative won’t succeed unless EVERYONE is following the guidelines ALL of the time.

Believe me, I know the challenges you face.
After more than 30 years of nursing experience in academic centers and community hospitals, I know finding the time to sort through the evidence and getting all relevant parties to agree on a plan of action-much less implement it 100% of the time-is like herding cats and juggling glass balls at the same time...something is bound to break!.

But that’s exactly why I created the Clinical Work Assessment (CWA) Blueprint^©.
I wanted to help healthcare organizations put the evidence into practice much more quickly and effectively. In one organization the unit-based practice council wanted to implement EBP to prevent Retinopathy of Prematurity (ROP) . They knew their 70-bed unit was inconsistent about how oxygen was managed for these tiny patients. Opinions as to best practices varied widely and battle lines were drawn as they sought to undertake this high stakes project.

But the Blueprint enabled them to bring opposing interests to the center. Using evidence, they were able to  created a daily plan and get on the road to significant weekly and monthly improvements in five measures of patient outcomes that decrease the risk and occurrence of ROP.

Jump Start Your HAI Prevention Program 
Now I’ve created a Blueprint program focused on getting your evidence-based practice initiative for healthcare acquired infections up and running quickly and effectively. By the end of the Eliminating HAIs with the Evidence Intensive, your team will walk away with:

• A complete HAI elimination plan that maps out your objectives, strategies and tactics-with target dates for completion and assigned accountability. It also defines how progress will be tracked and measured, and includes tools to make it easier to do so. And it’s all organized in one binder for maximum efficiency.


• Broad-based commitment to using a standardized framework for applying research-proven best practices to eliminating HAIs (which can be used again later to address other issues).


• A "special forces" team to lead the implementation and monitoring going forward.

Also, Clinical Linkages leads the launch of the initiative. For many organizations, having someone who's NOT on staff lead the charge and "take the heat," so to speak, is critical to getting everyone's commitment and getting things moving quickly.

So this is NOT a long, drawn-out process over the course of several months. We call it an Intensive because your HAI elimination effort can be up and running in as little as a week by using the Blueprint approach. Here's how we do it:

1. Pre-Seminar Preparation Call.  We meet with your key personnel via conference call to discuss what you want to achieve so we can create a seminar exclusively focused on your organization's specific needs. We will also set measurable objectives for the seminar.


2. Gaps Assessment. We will conduct a baseline evaluation of the applicable unit's culture, as well your staff's knowledge and perception of current practices to prevent infection. While this step is optional, many organizations find it invaluable to have this third-party assessment of the specific obstacles that need to be addressed.


3. Full-Day HAI Intensive Seminar. We come to you-just bring your notebooks and thinking caps as we problem-solve and create the evidence-based plan to cut your rates of ventilator acquired pneumonia, central line, urinary tract, and surgical site infections. During this action-packed day, you'll specifically:
   
   

Prioritize these four infections using your internal data on prevalence rates Learn a common language for discussing and evaluating the different types of evidence and their ability to improve patient outcomes Identify the actual strategies and tactics you’ll use to remove any barriers and implement the best practices Identify any operational changes that need to occur to support the initiative Set measurable outcomes with target deadlines to benchmark progress against-including who is responsible for them Complete a team evaluation of your work at the end of the day and debrief organization leadership on your progress



4. Implementation. Your team uses the Blueprint you created during the Intensive Seminar to move forward


5. Follow-up Conference Calls. We’ll have follow-up discussions with key stakeholdersvia phone  2 weeks, 4 weeks, and 8 weeks after the Intensive to discuss any new challenges and monitor implementation progress.
   
   
6. Return Site Visit. At the end of the first quarter after the Intensive, we can come back for an optional follow-up visit to discuss challenges, implementation and any adjustments to the Blueprint.

Who should participate?
We’ll determine exactly who should attend the Intensive seminar during out pre-seminar preparation call, but experience shows that an interdisciplinary team is essential to success. This often includes   administrative decision-makers, the manager, director and physician accountable for the first area of focus, staff nurses (perhaps from the practice council), clinical nurse specialists, pharmacists, as well as representatives responsible for quality improvement, data management, infection prevention, and even risk management if appropriate. 
In short, the Eliminating HAIs with the Evidence Intensive will give you a customized process and all the tools to cut your infection rates, which means...

• Healthier, happier patients
• A better bottom line
• Less infection-related staff stress
• Higher public trust

Every moment counts…

So, contact me NOW for a complimentary phone consultation to find out how to schedule an Intensive for your organization by emailing lisasams@clinicallinkages.com or calling 703.243-0137.

Sincerely,

Lisa Sams, RNC, MSN 

1 Source: Infection Control Today Magazine, 2/27/2008