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TUESDAY, July 24, 2018 (HealthDay News) — A comprehensive assessment of health care organization composition and structure is necessary before determining infection preventionist (IP) staffing needs, according to a study published recently in the American Journal of Infection Control<\/i>.<\/p>\n
Rebecca Bartles, M.P.H., from Providence St. Joseph Health System in Renton, Wash., and colleagues describe a large nonprofit health care system’s approach at quantifying the actual number of IP and relative support staff needed to build and sustain effective infection prevention programs.<\/p>\n
After performing a quantitative needs assessment involving a department-level survey for 34 hospitals, 583 ambulatory sites, and 26 in-home and long-term-care programs across five states, the researchers found that actual labor needs to be 31 to 66 percent above current benchmarks of 0.5 to one IP per 100 occupied beds. A new benchmark of one infection prevention full-time equivalent per 69 beds is needed if ambulatory, long-term care, or home care is included.<\/p>\n
“Size, scope, services offered, populations cared for, and type of care settings all impact the actual need for IP coverage, making the survey benchmarks available in the literature invalid,” the authors write.<\/p>\n