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The Infection Prevention Society, launched in 2007, welcomes all disciplines of healthcare professionals.
It especially welcomes pharmacist members.
The important role for hospital pharmacists in providing specialist pharmaceutical advice to multidisciplinary infection prevention teams was emphasised by Martin Kiernan, president of the Infection Prevention Society, at a recent multidisciplinary conference. He recognised that pharmacists provide invaluable clinical expertise to such teams and suggested the possibility that “antibiotic pharmacists” could be employed directly within infection control departments in the future. Mr Kiernan strongly advocated that such infection prevention teams should be highly visible within hospitals. Key responsibilities of teams include motivation of staff to decrease infection rates and pro-active use of surveillance data to drive antimicrobial improvement initiatives, he said. Current dilemmas involved in antimicrobial use, and the importance of pharmacist intervention, were further reviewed by Jonathan Cooke, chief pharmacist, University Hospital of South Manchester NHS Foundation Trust. These include the increasing problem of Clostridium difficile resistance, the widespread use of empirical and broad-spectrum antimicrobials and their use in the absence of sensitivity reports. He highlighted the important role that hospital pharmacists play in the fight against antimicrobial resistance, being involved in surveillance of antimicrobial use formulary review implementing policies (such as intravenous to oral switches and surgical prophylaxis) education of staff specialist review of individual patients therapeutic drug monitoring and providing advice to patients. His key messages included the need for more quantitative and qualitative audits of antimicrobial use and the stipulation that surgical prophylactic antimicrobials should be given half an hour before surgery for optimal effect. The theme of interdisciplinary working was further developed by Stephan Harbarth, of Geneva University Hospitals, Switzerland. He emphasised the importance of different healthcare professionals collaborating in interdisciplinary research and the fact that more research is required about human behaviour, particularly into why people do not do what they are supposed to do (for example, in relation to compliance with antibiotic policies). Although the mantra “infection control is everyone’s business” is often repeated, it has proved difficult to engage staff. However, the recent publication of the Darzi report has put healthcare-associated infection at the top of the quality improvement agenda. Dawn Hill, of the Welsh Healthcare-Associated Infection Programme, encouraged delegates by reminding them that the report represents “an opportunity to encourage ownership of infection prevention and control by moving into the patient safety arena and using quality improvement methodology as the driver”. A thought-provoking presentation linked topical research about terrorism with risk management in the field of infectious diseases. Brooke Roger, of King’s College London, highlighted the differences between expert and public perceptions of risk and the fact that it is important to ensure effective communication with the public in risky events, for instance during influenza pandemics.
Robert Haley: target efforts on selected infections
In a keynote address entitled “Zero tolerance: the new expectations for healthcare-associated infections”, Robert Haley, of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Centre, US, explained that the often quoted “zero tolerance” concept is an effective marketing campaign to encourage all hospital personnel to work towards infection prevention and control goals. This had been particularly effective in engaging US hospital stakeholders to “become allies of the infection control professional in reducing healthcare-associated infection rates”. However, it was important to recognise the possibility that not all hospital-acquired infections could be reduced to zero. Rather, efforts should be targeted on selected infections that had the greatest possibility of being reduced to this extent. In this respect it is particularly important to encourage staff compliance with infection prevention and control documents, including bundle (a structured set of practices designed to improve patient care) documentation.
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