Optimize Your CDI Prevention Efforts
Preventing CDI is a multidisciplinary effort. It requires everyone, from physicians to nurses, pharmacy to the microbiology laboratory, housekeeping to hospital leadership, and especially infection prevention and control staff, to do their part. The discussion above is not meant to dismiss the importance of hand hygiene or environmental disinfection. Soap and water should always be used preferentially over alcohol-based hand rubs if the hands become grossly contaminated or if gloves were not worn.
Enhanced cleaning of the environment with sporicidal methods is clearly indicated if your facility has issues with CDI cases occurring repeatedly in the same room. Before changing your approach to cleaning the environment, it is important to make sure that the environment is being cleaned in the first place—the sporicidal agent will not have the opportunity to work if it is never applied.
However, existing data indicate that the most effective methods to prevent CDI in hospitals are:
Improving antimicrobial prescribing;
Promptly identifying patients with CDI and placing them on contact precautions, and
Making sure that healthcare workers are compliant with contact precautions, including gowns, gloves, use of dedicated equipment whenever possible, and ensuring that nondedicated equipment is adequately cleaned between patients.