Hospital-acquired bloodstream infections most commonly originate from IV catheters and should be suspected in any patient with an IV catheter that develops systemic inflammatory response syndrome without an extravascular infection source.
Adoption of hospital-cleaning protocols and standard operating procedures for clinical tasks enables all members of the veterinary team to take an active role in decreasing the incidence of hospital-acquired infections (HAIs).
Source: Clinician’s Brief, August 2016.
Team Takeaways:
Veterinarians: Empiric antibiotic therapy should be instituted immediately in patients with suspected HAI. Empiric therapy choice should be based on the local antibiogram, followed by more focused antibiotic therapy when culture results are available.
Nursing Team: Careful attention to hand hygiene, catheter care, and hospital cleaning protocols can help minimize HAI. Work with your diagnostic laboratory to compile an antibiogram to help guide empiric antibiotic therapy in suspected HAI cases.
Client Care Team: Protocols should be in place for cleaning and disinfecting all potential sources of infection in the hospital, including cleaning supplies, sinks, trash cans, and spray bottles. Be certain to follow cleaning protocols in all areas of the hospital to minimize risk for HAI.
INSIGHTS: Sales representatives selling IV catheters can provide this article when working with veterinary teams on catheter choice. Further opportunities exist since antimicrobial resistance is common in HAIs. Therefore, tissue, blood, and catheter culture and sensitivity testing must be performed to select appropriate antimicrobial therapy.