Two leading organizations dedicated to reducing health care-associated infections worldwide issue inaugural Partnership in Prevention Award
During the Fifth Decennial International Conference on Healthcare-Associated Infections, the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) awarded their first Partnership in Prevention Award to the National Guard Health Affairs in Saudi Arabia. The award was created to recognize and celebrate the efforts of multidisciplinary teams working together to champion infection prevention efforts within their healthcare organization.
Award candidates were required to demonstrate: -an increase in priority of infection prevention within the organization; -an increase in investment of resources to achieve reductions in healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and a reduction in one or more of such infections; -an increase in implementation of evidence-based practices for the reduction of HAIs; -sustainability of team approach to change; and -an advancement of cultural, process, or resource change to other areas of the facility.
"The elimination of healthcare-associated infections demands not only a commitment of resources, but a commitment across all levels of the healthcare institution, including the C-Suite, the frontline healthcare professional, and support staff, to creative and continuous quality improvement," said Neil Fishman, MD, president of SHEA. "National Guard Health Affairs in Saudi Arabia exemplifies this commitment and the tremendous change and progress such an effort can bring."
The Infection Prevention and Control department of the National Guard Health Affairs in Saudi Arabia (NGHA) is one of the fastest growing in the Gulf region, serving as the headquarters for infection control for the Gulf Cooperation Council States (GCC), and was designated in 2009 as the World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Infection Control. They were among the first seven countries to sign the WHO's "Clean Care is Safer Care" pledge in 2005, and steered all seven GCC countries to be active members in this global initiative of patient safety.
"NGHA has had a tremendous impact on the entire Middle East region in terms of improving and sustaining infection control practices," said Cathryn Murphy, PhD, RN, president of APIC. "Their dedication to educating healthcare workers, influencing infection control practices, and to developing and improving the infrastructure needed to truly make an impact on reducing HAIs is outstanding."
The NGHA has invested both financial and personnel resources to the development of guidelines including an infection control manual, a surveillance manual, as well as guidelines for diagnosing and managing community-acquired pneumonia. They participated in the development of the WHO's guidelines on hand hygiene and are working with the CDC on the development of a web-based surveillance software.