While the persistence of high surgical site infection (SSI) rates has prompted the advent of more expensive sutures that are coated with antimicrobial agents to prevent SSIs, the economic value of such sutures has yet to be determined.

Using TreeAge Pro, we developed a decision analytic model to determine the cost-effectiveness of using antimicrobial sutures in abdominal incisions from the hospital, third-party payer, and societal perspectives. Sensitivity analyses systematically varied the risk of developing an SSI (range, 5%–20%), the cost of triclosan-coated sutures (range, $5–$25/inch), and triclosan-coated suture efficacy in preventing infection (range, 5%–50%) to highlight the range of costs associated with using such sutures.

Triclosan-coated sutures saved $4,109–$13,975 (hospital perspective), $4,133–$14,297 (third-party payer perspective), and $40,127–$53,244 (societal perspective) per SSI prevented, when a surgery had a 15% SSI risk, depending on their efficacy. If the SSI risk was no more than 5% and the efficacy in preventing SSIs was no more than 10%, triclosan-coated sutures resulted in extra expenditure for hospitals and third-party payers (resulting in extra costs of $1,626 and $1,071 per SSI prevented for hospitals and third-party payers, respectively; SSI risk, 5%; efficacy, 10%).

Our results suggest that switching to triclosan-coated sutures from the uncoated sutures can both prevent SSIs and save substantial costs for hospitals, third-party payers, and society, as long as efficacy in preventing SSIs is at least 10% and SSI risk is at least 10%.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) is a major pathogen in hospital-acquired infections. MRSA-colonized inpatients who may benefit from undergoing decolonization have not been identified.

To identify risk factors for MRSA infection among patients who are colonized with MRSA at hospital admission.

A case-control study.

A 146-bed Veterans Affairs hospital.

Case patients were those patients admitted from January 2003 to August 2011 who were found to be colonized with MRSA on admission and then developed MRSA infection. Control subjects were those patients admitted during the same period who were found to be colonized with MRSA on admission but who did not develop MRSA infection.

A retrospective review.

A total of 75 case patients and 150 control subjects were identified. A stay in the intensive care unit (ICU) was the significant risk factor in univariate analysis (P<.001). Prior history of MRSA (P = .03), transfer from a nursing home (P = .002), experiencing respiratory failure (P<.001), and receipt of transfusion (P = .001) remained significant variables in multivariate analysis. Prior history of MRSA colonization or infection (P = .02), difficulty swallowing (P = .04), presence of an open wound (P = .002), and placement of a central line (P = .02) were identified as risk factors for developing MRSA infection for patients in the ICU. Duration of hospitalization, readmission rate, and mortality rate were significantly higher in case patients than in control subjects (P< .001, .001, and <.001, respectively).

MRSA-colonized patients admitted to the ICU or admitted from nursing homes have a high risk of developing MRSA infection. These patients may benefit from undergoing decolonization.

Controversy exists over whether Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) commonly occurs in long-term care facility residents who have not been recently transferred from an acute care hospital.

To assess the incidence and outcome of CDI in a long-term care facility.

Retrospective cohort study in a 262-bed long-term care Veterans Affairs facility in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for the period January 2004 through June 2010. CDI was identified by positive stool C. difficile toxin assay and acute diarrhea. Patients were categorized as hospital-associated CDI (HACDI) or long-term care facility–associated CDI (LACDI) and followed for 6 months.

The annual rate of CDI varied between 0.11 and 0.23 per 1,000 resident-days for HACDI patients and between 0.04 and 0.28 per 1,000 resident-days for LACDI patients. We identified 162 patients, 96 patients (59.3%) with HACDI and 66 patients (40.7%) with LACDI. Median age was 74 and 77 years, respectively, for HACDI and LACDI (P = .055) patients. There were more patients with at least 1 relapse of CDI during 6 months of follow up in LACDI patients (32/66, 48.5%) than in HACDI patients (28/96, 29.2%; P = .009). Logistic regression showed that ages of at least 75 years (odds ratio [OR], 2.33; 95% confidence interval [CI], 1.07–5.07; P = .033), more than 2 transfers to an acute care hospital (OR, 7.88; 95% CI, 1.88–32.95; P = .005), and LACDI (OR, 3.15; 95% CI, 1.41–7.05; P = .005) were associated with relapse of CDI.

Forty percent of CDI cases were acquired within the long-term care facility, indicating a substantial degree of transmission. Optimal strategies to prevent CDI in the long-term care facility are needed.

To estimate the economic value of dispensing preoperative home-based Chlorhexidine bathing cloth kits to orthopedic patients to prevent surgical site infection (SSI).

A stochastic decision-analytic computer simulation model was developed from the hospital’s perspective depicting the decision of whether to dispense the kits preoperatively to orthopedic patients. We varied patient age, cloth cost, SSI-attributable excess length of stay, cost per bed-day, patient compliance with the regimen, and cloth antimicrobial efficacy to determine which variables were the most significant drivers of the model’s outcomes.

When all other variables remained at baseline and cloth efficacy was at least 50%, patient compliance only had to be half of baseline (baseline mean, 15.3%; range, 8.23%–20.0%) for Chlorhexidine cloths to remain the dominant strategy (ie, less costly and providing better health outcomes). When cloth efficacy fell to 10%, 1.5 times the baseline bathing compliance also afforded dominance of the preoperative bath.

The results of our study favor the routine distribution of bathing kits. Even with low patient compliance and cloth efficacy values, distribution of bathing kits is an economically beneficial strategy for the prevention of SSI.

To assess the impact and sustainability of a multifaceted intervention to prevent methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) transmission implemented in 3 chronologically overlapping phases at 1 hospital.

Interrupted time-series analyses.

A Veterans Affairs hospital in the northeastern United States.

Individuals admitted to acute care units from October 1, 1999, through September 30, 2008. To calculate the monthly clinical incidence of MRSA colonization or infection, the number of MRSA-positive cultures obtained from a clinical site more than 48 hours after admission among patients with no MRSA-positive clinical cultures during the previous year was divided by patient-days at risk. Secondary outcomes included clinical incidence of methicillin-sensitive S. aureus colonization or infection and incidence of MRSA bloodstream infections.

The intervention—implemented in a surgical ward beginning October 2001, in a surgical intensive care unit beginning October 2003, and in all acute care units beginning July 2005—included systems and behavior change strategies to increase adherence to infection control precautions (eg, hand hygiene and active surveillance culturing for MRSA).

Hospital-wide, the clinical incidence of MRSA colonization or infection decreased after initiation of the intervention in 2001, compared with the period before intervention (P = .002), and decreased by 61% (P < .001) in the 7-year postintervention period. In the postintervention period, the hospital-wide incidence of MRSA bloodstream infection decreased by 50% (P = .02), and the proportion of S. aureus isolates that were methicillin resistant decreased by 30% (P < .001).

Sustained decreases in hospital-wide clinical incidence of MRSA colonization or infection, incidence of MRSA bloodstream infection, and proportion of S. aureus isolates resistant to methicillin followed implementation of a multifaceted prevention program at one Veterans Affairs hospital. Findings suggest that interventions designed to prevent transmission can impact endemic antimicrobial resistance problems.

Patients undergoing orthopedic surgery are susceptible to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections, which can result in increased morbidity, hospital lengths of stay, and medical costs. We sought to estimate the economic value of routine preoperative MRSA screening and decolonization of orthopedic surgery patients.

A stochastic decision-analytic computer simulation model was used to evaluate the economic value of implementing this strategy (compared with no preoperative screening or decolonization) among orthopedic surgery patients from both the third-party payer and hospital perspectives. Sensitivity analyses explored the effects of varying MRSA colonization prevalence, the cost of screening and decolonization, and the probability of decolonization success.

Preoperative MRSA screening and decolonization was strongly cost-effective (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio less than $6,000 per quality-adjusted life year) from the third-party payer perspective even when MRSA prevalence was as low as 1%, decolonization success was as low as 25%, and decolonization costs were as high as $300 per patient. In most scenarios this strategy was economically dominant (ie, less costly and more effective than no screening). From the hospital perspective, preoperative MRSA screening and decolonization was the economically dominant strategy for all scenarios explored.

Routine preoperative screening and decolonization of orthopedic surgery patients may under many circumstances save hospitals and third-party payers money while providing health benefits.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) transmission and infections are a continuing problem in hospitals. Although some have recommended universal surveillance for MRSA at hospital admission to identify and to isolate MRSA-colonized patients, there is a need for formal economic studies to determine the cost-effectiveness of such a strategy.

We developed a stochastic computer simulation model to determine the potential economic impact of performing MRSA surveillance (ie, single culture of an anterior nares specimen) for all hospital admissions at different MRSA prevalences and basic reproductive rate thresholds from the societal and third party-payor perspectives. Patients with positive surveillance culture results were placed under isolation precautions to prevent transmission by way of respiratory droplets. MRSA-colonized patients who were not isolated could transmit MRSA to other hospital patients.

The performance of universal MRSA surveillance was cost-effective (defined as an incremental cost-effectiveness ratio of less than $50,000 per quality-adjusted life-year) when the basic reproductive rate was 0.25 or greater and the prevalence was 1% or greater. In fact, surveillance was the dominant strategy when the basic reproductive rate was 1.5 or greater and the prevalence was 15% or greater, the basic reproductive rate was 2.0 or greater and the prevalence was 10% or greater, and the basic reproductive rate was 2.5 or greater and the prevalence was 5% or greater.

Universal MRSA surveillance of adults at hospital admission appears to be cost-effective at a wide range of prevalence and basic reproductive rate values. Individual hospitals and healthcare systems could compare their prevailing conditions (eg, the prevalence of MRSA colonization and MRSA transmission dynamics) with the benchmarks in our model to help determine their optimal local strategies.

Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) can cause severe infection in patients who are undergoing vascular surgical operations. Testing all vascular surgery patients preoperatively for MRSA and attempting to decolonize those who have positive results may be a strategy to prevent MRSA infection. The economic value of such a strategy has not yet been determined.

We developed a decision-analytic computer simulation model to determine the economic value of using such a strategy before all vascular surgical procedures from the societal and third-party payer perspectives at different MRSA prevalence and decolonization success rates.

The model showed preoperative MRSA testing to be cost-effective (incremental cost-effectiveness ratio, <$50,000 per quality-adjusted life year) when the MRSA prevalence is ≥0.01 and the decolonization success rate is ≥0.25. In fact, this strategy was dominant (ie, less costly and more effective) at the following thresholds: MRSA prevalence ≥0.01 and decolonization success rate ≥0.5, and MRSA prevalence ≥0.025 and decolonization success rate ≥0.25.

Testing and decolonizing patients for MRSA before vascular surgery may be a cost-effective strategy over a wide range of MRSA prevalence and decolonization success rates.

To measure the effectiveness of an industrial systems-engineering approach to a methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) prevention program.

Before-after intervention study

An intensive care unit (ICU) and a surgical unit that was not an ICU in the Pittsburgh Veterans Administration hospital

Allpatientsadmittedtothe study units

We implemented an MRSA infection control program that consisted of the following 4 elements: (1) the use of standard precautions for all patient contact, with emphasis on hand hygiene; (2) the use of contact precautions for interactions with patients known to be infected or colonized with MRSA; (3) the use of active surveillance cultures to identify patients who were asymptomatically colonized with MRSA; and (4) use of an industrial systems-engineering approach, the Toyota Production System, to facilitate consistent and reliable adherence to the infection control program.

The rate of healthcare-associated MRSA infection in the surgical unit decreased from 1.56 infections per 1,000 patient-days in the 2 years before the intervention to 0.63 infections per 1,000 patient-days in the 4 years after the intervention (a 60% reduction; P = .003). The rate of healthcare-associated MRSA infection in the ICU decreased from 5.45 infections per 1,000 patient-days in the 2 years before to the intervention to 1.35 infections per 1,000 patient-days in the 3 years after the intervention (a 75% reduction; P = .001). The combined estimate for reduction in the incidence of infection after the intervention in the 2 units was 68% (95% confidence interval, 50%-79%; P < .001).

Sustained reduction in the incidence of MRSA infection is possible in a setting where this pathogen is endemic. An industrial systems-engineering approach can be adapted to facilitate consistent and reliable adherence to MRSA infection prevention practices in healthcare facilities.

Use of active surveillance cultures for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) for all patients admitted to the intensive care unit has been shown to reduce nosocomial transmission. However, the cost-effectiveness and the utility of implementing use of active surveillance cultures nationwide remain controversial. We sought to develop an artificial neural network (ANN) model that would predict the likelihood of MRSA colonization.

Two acute care hospitals, one in Pittsburgh (hospital A) and one in Kaohsiung, Taiwan (hospital B).

Nasal cultures were performed for all patients admitted to the hospitals. A total of 46 potential risk factors in hospital A and 86 potential risk factors in hospital B associated with MRSA colonization were assessed. Culture results were obtained; 75% of the data were used for training our ANN model, and the remaining 25% were used for validating our ANN model. The culture results were the “gold standard” for determining the accuracy of the model predictions.

The ANN model predictions were accurate 95.2% of the time for hospital A (sensitivity, 94.3%; specificity, 96.0%) and 94.2% of the time for hospital B (sensitivity, 96.6%; specificity, 91.8%), integrating all potential risk factors into the model. Only 17 potential risk factors were needed for the hospital A ANN model (accuracy, 90.9%; sensitivity, 98.5%; specificity, 83.4%), and only 20 potential risk factors were needed for the hospital B ANN model (accuracy, 90.5%; sensitivity, 96.6%; specificity, 84.3%), if the minimal risk factor method was used. Cross-validation analysis showed an average accuracy of 85.6% (sensitivity, 91.3%; specificity, 80.0%).

Our ANN model can be used to predict with an accuracy of more than 90% which patients carry MRSA. The false-negative rates were significantly lower than the false-positive rates in the ANN predictions, which can serve as a safety buffer in case of patient misclassification.

Hospital-acquired Legionella pneumonia has a fatality rate of 28%, and the source is the water distribution system. Two prevention strategies have been advocated. One approach to prevention is clinical surveillance for disease without routine environmental monitoring. Another approach recommends environmental monitoring even in the absence of known cases of Legionella pneumonia. We determined the Legionella colonization status of water systems in hospitals to establish whether the results of environmental surveillance correlated with discovery of disease. None of these hospitals had previously experienced endemic hospital-acquired Legionella pneumonia.

Cohort study.

Twenty US hospitals in 13 states.

Hospitals performed clinical and environmental surveillance for Legionella from 2000 through 2002. All specimens were shipped to the Special Pathogens Laboratory at the Veterans Affairs Pittsburgh Medical Center.

Legionella pneumophila and Legionella anisa were isolated from 14 (70%) of 20 hospital water systems. Of 676 environmental samples, 198 (29%) were positive for Legionella species. High-level colonization of the water system (30% or more of the distal outlets were positive for L. pneumophila) was demonstrated for 6 (43%) of the 14 hospitals with positive findings. L. pneumophila serogroup 1 was detected in 5 of these 6 hospitals, whereas 1 hospital was colonized with L. pneumophila serogroup 5. A total of 633 patients were evaluated for Legionella pneumonia from 12 (60%) of the 20 hospitals: 377 by urinary antigen testing and 577 by sputum culture. Hospital-acquired Legionella pneumonia was identified in 4 hospitals, all of which were hospitals with L. pneumophila serogroup 1 found in 30% or more of the distal outlets. No cases of disease due to other serogroups or species (L. anisa) were identified.

Environmental monitoring followed by clinical surveillance was successful in uncovering previously unrecognized cases of hospital-acquired Legionella pneumonia.

To identify characteristics of encounters between healthcare workers (HCWs) and patients that correlated with hand hygiene adherence among HCWs.

Observational study.

Intensive care unit in a Veterans Affairs hospital.

HCWs.

There were 767 patient encounters observed (48.6% involved nurses, 20.6% involved physicians, and 30.8% involved other HCWs); 39.8% of encounters involved patients placed under contact precautions. HCW contact with either the patient or surfaces in the patient's environment occurred during all encounters; direct patient contact occurred during 439 encounters (57.4%), and contact with environmental surfaces occurred during 710 encounters (92.6%). The median duration of encounters was 2 minutes (range, <1 to 51 minutes); 33.6% of encounters lasted 1 minute or less, with no significant occupation-associated differences in the median duration of encounters. Adherence with hand hygiene practices was correlated with the duration of the encounter, with overall adherences of 30.0% after encounters of ≤1 minute, 43.4% after encounters of >1 to ≤2 minutes, 51.1% after encounters of >3 to ≤5 minutes, and 64.9% after encounters of >5 minutes (P < .001 by the x2 for trend). In multivariate analyses, longer encounter duration, contact precautions status, patient contact, and nursing occupation were independently associated with adherence to hand hygiene recommendations.

In this study, adherence to hand hygiene practices was lowest after brief patient encounters (ie, <2 minutes). Brief encounters accounted for a substantial proportion of all observed encounters, and opportunities for hand contamination occurred during all brief encounters. Therefore, improving adherence after brief encounters may have an important overall impact on the transmission of healthcare-associated pathogens and may deserve special emphasis in the design of programs to promote adherence to hand hygiene practices.

The role of rectal carriage of Staphylococcus aureus as a risk factor for nosocomial S. aureus infections in critically ill patients has not been fully discerned.

Nasal and rectal swabs for S. aureus were obtained on admission and weekly thereafter until discharge or death from 204 consecutive patients admitted to the surgical intensive care unit and liver transplant unit.

Overall, 49.5% (101 of 204) of the patients never harbored S. aureus, 21.6% (44 of 204) were nasal carriers only, 3.4% (7 of 204) were rectal carriers only, and 25.5% (52 of 204) were both nasal and rectal carriers. Infections due to S. aureus developed in 15.7% (32 of 204) of the patients; these included 3% (3 of 101) of the non-carriers, 18.2% (8 of 44) of the nasal carriers only, 0% (0 of 7) of the rectal carriers only, and 40.4% (21 of 52) of the patients who were both nasal and rectal carriers (P = .001). Patients with both rectal and nasal carriage were significantly more likely to develop S. aureus infection than were those with nasal carriage only (odds ratio, 3.9; 95% confidence interval, 1.18 to 7.85; P = .025). By pulsed-field gel electrophoresis, the infecting rectal and nasal isolates were clonally identical in 82% (14 of 17) of the patients with S. aureus infections.

Rectal carriage represents an underappreciated reservoir for S. aureus in patients in the intensive care unit and liver transplant recipients. Rectal plus nasal carriage may portend a greater risk for S. aureus infections in these patients than currently realized.