Tahseen J Siddiqui
Norwegian American Hospital, USA
Title: Bugs can be busted: How to prevent healthcare acquired infections?
Biography
Biography: Tahseen J Siddiqui
Abstract
No one likes bugs! Especially when they are acquired and transmitted to affect the most vulnerable patient population that reside in a healthcare setting. HAIs can have devastating effects on physical, mental/emotional and financial well-being of patients as well as costing billions of dollars to the healthcare system. Additionally, growing number of HAIs are caused by antibiotic resistant pathogens. In the U.S, there were an estimated 687,000 Healthcare Acquired Infections (HAIs) in acute care hospitals were reported to CDC each year. About 72,000 hospital patients with HAIs died during their hospitalization. On any given day, about 1 in 31 hospital patients have at least one healthcare-associated infection. At Norwegian American Hospital, a 200-bed nonprofit safety-net community hospital in Chicago, IL, USA, we have been able to significantly reduce the rates of HIAs, especially catheter-associated UTIs (CAUTI), Central Line-Associated Blood Stream Infections (CLABSI), MRSA infections and C. Difficle Infections (CDI) by creatively developing and successfully implementing preventive strategies and infection prevention tools. As a result, in 2014, Norwegian American Hospital was recognized for having the lowest rate based on publicly available data of hospital-acquired infections of the 67 hospitals in the greater Chicago area. It was also recognized as top 10% in the country for patient safety by health grades and received an honorary Gage Award from America’s Essential Hospitals in 2015.