Wolters Kluwer Health Publishes Guide to Establishing Effective Infection Prevention Programs to Reduce HAIs, Improve Patient Safety
(November 7, 2014) — Wolters Kluwer Health, a leading global provider of information for healthcare professionals and students, announced today the release of a complementary guide educating healthcare organizations on building and maintaining successful infection prevention programs. Building a High Performing Infection Prevention and Control Program details the key elements of a quality-driven program that leverages real-time clinical surveillance to reduce healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and improve patient safety.
Healthcare organizations with high-performing infection prevention programs have reduced certain HAI rates by as much as 68%. However, infection prevention and control remains an intractable challenge. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), on any given day, approximately 1 in 25 hospital patients has at least one HAI. There were 721,000 HAIs in U.S. acute care hospitals in 2011 and about 75,000 hospital patients with HAIs died during their hospitalizations.
The e-book outlines HAIs, multi-drug resistant organisms (MDROs) and other challenges facing infection preventionists and outlines the characteristics and implementation of a quality-driven infection prevention and control program. It also explores the benefits of electronic surveillance systems such as Sentri7® that aggregate data from across the organization to accelerate analysis and eliminate delays in identification of sentinel events.
“In response to increased regulatory scrutiny and mandatory public reporting initiatives, healthcare organizations must rapidly advance implementation of high-performing infection prevention programs to improve patient safety and outcomes,” said Leo Barbaro, Vice President & General Manager, Clinical Terminologies and Surveillance, Wolters Kluwer Health, Clinical Solutions. “By leveraging Sentri7 as part of a comprehensive infection prevention program, hospitals are protecting their patients in a meaningful way while mitigating the impact of HAIs on revenue.”
Sentri7 is a web-based, real-time, decision support application that drives continuous improvement and empowers healthcare organizations to achieve excellence in care delivery. It addresses multiple infection prevention responsibilities, including investigation of HAIs, isolation management, MDRO management and compliance with federal and state reporting requirements.
Click here to download Building a High Performing Infection Prevention and Control Program.
About Wolters Kluwer Health
Wolters Kluwer Health is a leading global provider of information, business intelligence and point-of-care solutions for the healthcare industry. Serving more than 150 countries worldwide, clinicians rely on Wolters Kluwer Health’s market leading information-enabled tools and software solutions throughout their professional careers from training to research to practice. Major brands include Health Language®, Lexicomp®, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, Medicom®, Medi-Span®, Medknow, Ovid®, Pharmacy OneSource®, ProVation® Medical and UpToDate®.
Wolters Kluwer Health is part of Wolters Kluwer, a market-leading global information services company. Wolters Kluwer had 2013 annual revenues of €3.6 billion ($4.7 billion), employs approximately 19,000 people worldwide, and maintains operations in over 40 countries across Europe, North America, Asia Pacific, and Latin America. Wolters Kluwer is headquartered in Alphen aan den Rijn, the Netherlands. Its shares are quoted on Euronext Amsterdam (WKL) and are included in the AEX and Euronext 100 indices. Wolters Kluwer has a sponsored Level 1 American Depositary Receipt program. The ADRs are traded on the over-the-counter market in the U.S. (WTKWY).
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