Image of microbes with word bubbles around it. Word bubbles include: food supply, communities, across the world, water and soil, and healthcare facilties.

Health Equity and Antimicrobial Resistance Resources from CDC

CDC provided a toolkit of resources that incorporate health equity science into antibiotic stewardship program research.

Ways to Share this Resource 

Perfect for sharing during U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week (November 18-24).
Resources for different audiences to help you match the right materials for patients, residents, family, administrators, prescribers, and healthcare workers.

Target Audience: Foundational to Intermediate IPC education levels

Guidance & Regulation Updates

VIPTA members track guidance and regulation resources to share source documents that guide infection prevention and control practices for public health staff and clinical and non-clinical healthcare personnel.

The date of the regulation or guidance update is included in each post. Please check linked content to be sure it is the most up to date and recommended practice.

Health Update: Prevention Strategies for Mpox, including Vaccinating People at Risk via Sexual Exposure, for U.S. Travelers Visiting Countries with Clade I Mpox Outbreaks (9/23/2024)

CDC

Department of Health

Outbreak Investigation

Surveillance

Provides recommendations for travelers who are going to a country with ongoing human-to-human clade I mpox virus transmission. Provides clinicians and public health practitioners with recommendations to implement during travel health visits to mitigate the risk to travelers visiting countries with ongoing human-to-human clade I mpox virus transmission.

Core Elements of Hospital Diagnostic Excellence Programs (9/11/2024)

CDC

Acute Care Hospital

Antimicrobial & Diagnostic Stewardship

Describes the key framework and actions that can be implemented to improve diagnoses for hospitalized patients. The guidance includes diagnostic stewardship considerations for urine culture and C. difficile tests which align with infection prevention recommendations.

Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services National Healthcare Safety Network’s (NHSN) Antibiotic Use and Resistance (AUR) Reporting Modules

CMS

Acute Care Hospital

Regulatory Compliance

Surveillance

Eligible acute care and critical access hospitals have two module options for reporting AUR data to the NHSN AUR Module to meet the CMS requirements for calendar year 2024. Find more information about these modules in the NHSN Newsletter and AUR Reporting FAQs on the NHSN website.

Use of COVID-19 Vaccines in the United States (9/6/2024)

CDC

Any Practice Setting

Vaccination

Recommendations for the use of 2024–2025 Novavax COVID-19 vaccine in people ages 12 years and older Updated guidance in the Interchangeability of COVID-19 vaccines section and in Appendix B on completion of an initial vaccination series if vaccine doses from different manufacturers are administered in certain circumstance.

Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) August Public Meeting Recap (9/3/2024)

CDC

Any Practice Setting

Transmission-Based Precautions

During the August 2024 meeting, the committee provided brief updates from three of HICPAC’s workgroups: Isolation Precautions, Dental Unit Waterlines, and Infection Control in Healthcare Personnel. A recap of the meeting and what was specifically covered can be reviewed on the CDC’s Blog.

Carilion Clinic

The Carilion Clinic Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) team is engaging patients in the outpatient hand hygiene program. Infection prevention is a team effort, and everyone, including patients, has a role to play. Hand hygiene is the most crucial strategy for preventing infections, and through this program, Carilion is committed to providing the best patient care.

The Patient Feedback Monitoring Program invites patients at ambulatory sites to provide feedback on their providers’ hand hygiene. During their visits, patients receive feedback cards where they can indicate “yes,” “no,” or “unsure” if their provider performed hand hygiene before initiating physical contact. These data are compiled into a Tableau dashboard and shared with sites in real-time to evaluate compliance. The goal of this program is to highlight the importance of hand hygiene in the clinical setting and empower patients to be allies and advocates for infection prevention.

Since the program’s creation, the Carilion Clinic IPC team has been actively engaging ambulatory clinics and promoting the initiative, setting a goal for each clinic to submit 40 observations per month. Collaborating with the marketing and technology departments, the team ensured that the observation tools are accessible. The total number of outpatient hand hygiene observations increased from 12,311 in 2022 to 17,033 in 2023. As of July 2024, outpatient clinics have already collected 11,259 observations, and the year is only half over!