Statement by Gina Pugliese, RN, MS, and vice president of Premier Safety Institute, on the APIC C. difficile study
The Premier healthcare alliance supports the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) for issuing their new study on the national prevalence of C. difficile in hospitals, and for focusing attention on the need to prevent the spread of infections in healthcare.
Improper use of antimicrobial agents is a key driver of C. difficile, as well as infections caused by drug resistant organisms such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE). Premier supports efforts to improve antimicrobial stewardship programs that strengthen appropriate use of antibiotics to improve patient care, reduce rates of antimicrobial resistance and safely lower costs to improve the overall health of patients.
Premier believes that hospitals’ infection prevention strategies should be comprehensive in nature and utilize new surveillance technologies to monitor healthcare associated infection (HAI) rates. Premier hospitals participating in the QUEST: Top Performing Hospitals program are following these recommendations and are actively working to prevent these types of infections by benchmarking and sharing strategies that have been proven to improve overall infection surveillance and quality of care.
More info at
- Premier Safety Institute resources on C. difficile
- APIC survey results