Date of Award
2017
Document Type
Open Access Dissertation
Department
College of Nursing
Sub-Department
Nursing Practice
First Advisor
Beverly Baliko
Abstract
Hospital-acquired infections (HAIs) are a huge economic burden and threat to patient health and outcomes. Clostridium difficile is the most common HAI. Effective hand hygiene and proper environmental cleaning procedures are significant to preventing the spread of C. difficile infections. The research question used to guide this project is: Does the use of a monitoring system for post C. difficile isolation terminal clean procedure reduce the rate of hospital-acquired C. difficile in the acute care population? A thorough organizational assessment was performed and directed this project to identify causes that may contribute to the recurrences of C. difficile infections. The findings led to further investigation on how isolation rooms are cleaned since patient rooms are recognized as a critical source of contamination. A multi-dimensional monitoring system was implemented to reduce the occurrence of C. difficile in the facility. Since implementation of the monitoring system, the incidence of C. difficile has decreased. The number of occurrences of C. difficile were 12 in 2015 to 11 in 2016. The total number of other HAIs have decreased from 33 in 2015 to 26 in 2016. This suggests that a monitoring system to improve the thoroughness of cleaning procedures contribute to a decrease in C. difficile and possibly other HAIs.
Rights
© 2017, Tamara Cook
Recommended Citation
Cook, T.(2017). A Quality Improvement Project to Reduce the Incidence of Clostridium difficile Infection through Implementation of Evidence-Based Terminal Clean Procedures. (Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from https://scholarcommons.sc.edu/etd/4181