How to Create a Consolidated Infection Prevention Program Across a Health Care System with Diverse Member Organizations

BACKGROUND: An evaluation of an infection prevention and control program of a healthcare system with diverse member organizations and 12,000 employees throughout one state, revealed inconsistent infection prevention policies and procedures. These inconsistencies led to confusion among staff who worked at a variety of facilities and further led to evidenced based Infection Prevention principles not being well implemented or practiced. METHODS: Through a retrospective program analysis evaluation, the Infection Prevention System Council within the health care system was able to identify areas of improvement to standardize practice across the system including the development of a new system wide leadership position, formal consultations for infection prevention needs and policy and procedural development at the system level as opposed to an individual member organization level. A total of 10 hospitals and 7 separate entities such as medical transport and home care and hospice participated in this program restructure. RESULTS: Significant increase in employee engagement from infection preventionists across the system as a result of the restructure, which led to systemized policies and procedures. Additionally, the Infection preventionists in each facility had more autonomy as subject matter experts and were utilized in key events such as the COVID 19 pandemic. The cohesive approach to infection prevention also led to greater support from senior leadership which resulted in the Infection prevention team being allotted financial resources for pivotal initiatives to improve healthcare associated infections. CONCLUSIONS: A single consistent Infection Prevention approach across an entire health care system provides a more engaged workforce with greater autonomy and resources which in turn lead to resource allocation and improved evidenced based infection prevention principles being implemented for the safety of both health care staff and patients.