1204 - Track That? Infection Prevention Audit and Chart Tools

Session Description: This session will describe the need for audit tools and evaluation worksheets for hand hygiene, personal protective equipment, environmental cleaning and wound care procedures identified through Infection Control Assessment and Response onsite visits in Minnesota Long-Term Care facilities. The Minnesota Department of Health Healthcare-Associated Infections/Antimicrobial Resistance Section addressed this gap by developing a suite of free, computer-based tools.

Utilizing technology can increase efficiency for the collection of infection prevention data. Technology can be used to improve the daily routines of Infection Preventionists. The challenge for an Infection Preventionist is in translating the knowledge gained from surveillance into action. To respond to an ever-changing environment in real-time, optimize prevention strategies and drive performance improvement best practices have been combined into a suite of easy-to-use tools. The auditing tools cover all the basics from hand hygiene to environmental cleaning and offer a complete picture of how well the facility is doing across multiple dimensions. Adaptable and custom reports and graphs provide a comprehensive view of the current infection prevention practices and identify areas where the facility can improve by providing reports on key indicators such as hand hygiene.

During the session, a live demonstration will show the participants how to utilize the tools through the data life cycle: collecting audit data, inputting data into the computer-based tools, and how the data is automatically processed. Participants will also learn how the tool updates a variety of different tables and graphs in real-time. This will provide Infection Preventionists summarized data that can be utilized to identify and guide improvement activities.