Vijay Jarodiya, MD
Livonia, Michigan
Vijay Jarodiya, MD, Tejveer Singh, MD, Zarak H. Khan, MD
St. Mary Mercy Hospital, Livonia, MI
Introduction: Clostridium difficile is a leading cause of healthcare associated infections in the United States accounting for approximately 12% of infections acquired in healthcare settings. Currently there is no primary prevention through immunization to prevent Clostridium difficile infections. Therefore hospital staff should be knowledgeable about evidence-based infection-control guidelines to decrease transmission of Clostridium difficile and decrease risk of infection in the hospital. We created an educational module that focused on Clostridium difficile education.
Methods: We developed an educational module that focuses on general information about Clostridium difficile including the pathogenesis of infection and ways to decrease or prevent transmission. A module was created which consisted of a pre-test to determine the level of knowledge prior to our intervention as well as an educational module which consisted of PowerPoint slides going over information about Clostridium difficile as well as strategies to decrease and prevent transmission and answering frequently asked questions. This is followed up with a post-test which was meant to test retained information provided during the module. Our initial study was conducted with physicians, nurses and nursing assistants. Our second cycle was conducted from January to June 2018 and expanded to include hospital staff that may not be involved with medical management but also would interact with patients, which included case managers, social workers, patient transportation staff, janitorial staff, food services and other staff.
Results: Our PDSA cycle revealed a pre-test score of 70.63% with an increase to 96.93% post-test (p< 0.001). The Standardized Infection Ratio in the months prior to the intervention was 1.967 (p=0.0139) and post-intervention it was 0.746 (p=0.4187).
Discussion: Our study shows that an educational module is an effective way to help combat Clostridium difficile infection rates. We had a statistically significant improvement in test scores which correlated with a decrease in Clostridium difficile infections. While the post-intervention SIR was not statistically significant, it was clinically significant and there was a statistically significant improvement from pre to post-intervention. Some concerns include the possibility of a decay effect from a passive intervention such as a module.
Citation: Vijay Jarodiya, MD, Tejveer Singh, MD, Zarak H. Khan, MD. P1041 - DECREASING HOSPITAL CLOSTRIDIUM DIFFICILE INFECTIONS: IMPACT OF AN EDUCATIONAL MODULE. Program No. P1041. ACG 2019 Annual Scientific Meeting Abstracts. San Antonio, Texas: American College of Gastroenterology.