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What’s New in the
Patient Safety World
October 2021
HAI’s Increase
During COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic appears to have reversed the previous trend toward decreases in HAI’s (hospital-associated infections). Researchers used data from the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN), the nation’s largest HAI surveillance system, to analyzed recent trends in HAI’s (Weiner-Lastinger 2021). Early in 2020 there was a slight decrease in HAI’s compared to the same period in 2019. Then the pandemic hit. The remainder of 2020 saw significant national increases in CLABSI’s (central line–associated bloodstream infections), CAUTI’s (catheter-associated urinary tract infections), VAE’s (ventilator-associated events), and MRSA infections compared to 2019.
CLABSI’s, which had actually decreased 12% in the
first quarter of 2020, increased 46% to 47% in the third quarter and fourth
quarters of 2020 compared to 2019.
CAUTI’s increased significantly with the fourth
quarter increasing by 19% compared to 2019.
VAE’s had significant increases nationally in all
4 quarters of 2020 compared to 2019, with the largest increase of 45% occurring
in Q4.
MRSA bacteremia saw increases of 23% and 34% during 2020-Q3
and 2020-Q4 compared to 2019.
Decreases in SSI’s (surgical site infections) in 2020 likely reflected a substantial
decrease in the number of adult inpatient colon or abdominal hysterectomy
procedures (the 2 types of surgery included in the data) done during the
pandemic.
Interestingly, C difficile–associated infections (CDI) decreased throughout 2020 compared to
2019. The authors attributed the decrease in CDI to increased focus on hand
hygiene, environmental cleaning, patient isolation, and use of PPE during 2020,
combined with continued inpatient antimicrobial stewardship programs and a
marked decline in outpatient antibiotic prescribing,
One would also suspect that PPE shortages, staffing shortages, burnout, and increased patient burden were likely factors contributing to the increase in most of these HAI’s.
The resurgence of COVID-19 infections and hospitalizations in 2021, driven by emergence of the delta variant, forbodes continued high levels of HAI’s.
Some of our prior columns on HAI’s (hospital-acquired infections):
December 28, 2010 “HAI’s: Looking In All The Wrong Places”
October 2013 “HAI’s: Costs, WHO Hand Hygiene, etc.”
February 2015 “17% Fewer HAC’s: Progress or Propaganda?”
April 2016 “HAI’s:
Gaming the System?”
September 2016 “More
on Preventing HAI’s”
November 2018 “Privacy
Curtains Shared Rooms and HAI’s”
December 2018 “HAI
Rates Drop”
January 2019 “Oral
Decontamination Strategy Fails”
February 2019 “Infection
Prevention for Anesthesiologists”
March 2019 “Does
Surgical Gowning Technique Matter?”
May 2019 “Focus
on Prophylactic Antibiotic Duration”
July 2019 “HAI’s and Nurse Staffing”
February 2020 “NICU: Decolonize the Parents”
June 16, 2020 “Tracking Technologies”
August 2020 “Surgical Site Infections and Laparoscopy”
December 2020 “Do You Have These Infection Control Vulnerabilities?”
May 2021 “CLABSI’s Up in the COVID-19 Era”
August 2021 “Updated Guidelines on C. diff”
References:
Weiner-Lastinger L, Pattabiraman V, Konnor R, et al. The impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) on healthcare-associated infections in 2020: A summary of data reported to the National Healthcare Safety Network. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology 2021; 1-14 Published online 03 September 2021
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