Using diagnostic stewardship to reduce rates, healthcare expenditures and accurately identify cases of hospital-onset Clostridioides difficile infection.

ABSTRACT:

Objective

Lack of judicious testing can result in the incorrect diagnosis of Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), unnecessary CDI treatment, increased costs and falsely augmented hospital-acquired infection (HAI) rates. We evaluated facility-wide interventions used at the VA San Diego Healthcare System (VASDHS) to reduce healthcare-onset, healthcare-facility-associated CDI (HO-HCFA CDI), including the use of diagnostic stewardship with test ordering criteria.

Design

We conducted a retrospective study to assess the effectiveness of measures implemented to reduce the rate of HO-HCFA CDI at the VASDHS from fiscal year (FY)2015 to FY2018.

Interventions

Measures executed in a stepwise fashion included a hand hygiene initiative, prompt isolation of CDI patients, enhanc

SUBMITTER: Solanky D 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9215221 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature