UF Health Jacksonville recognized as leader in infection prevention

UF Health Jacksonville’s Infection Prevention and Control team is one of six international winners of the Heroes of Infection Prevention Award from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, or APIC. The team received the award this month at APIC’s annual conference in Philadelphia.

APIC’s Heroes of Infection Prevention Award honors infection preventionists who have developed and implemented innovative infection prevention programs. UF Health received the award under the Process and System Improvement category.

Between 2015 and 2018, the Infection Prevention and Control team spearheaded multiple organizational improvements to change culture and enhance patient safety at UF Health Jacksonville. As a result, the hospital recorded a 74 percent reduction in central line-associated bloodstream infections, or CLABSIs, and an 86 percent reduction in catheter-associated urinary tract infections, or CAUTIs, during that time.

In 2014, the hospital’s leadership included CLABSI and CAUTI reductions in the organization’s strategic goals, signaling an increased emphasis on patient safety. The changes included real-time electronic surveillance, as well as other technologies such as a root-cause analysis tool and app-based hand-hygiene surveys that improved feedback and helped drive timely interventions.

The team then used data from these systems to determine infection priorities and create multidisciplinary committees focused on individual hospital-acquired infections. In addition, the organization instituted systems to increase shared accountability.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have a team of this caliber working for the patients at UF Health Jacksonville,” said Kelly Gray-Eurom, MD, MMM, the hospital’s chief quality officer and a professor of emergency medicine at the University of Florida College of Medicine – Jacksonville. “This prestigious award is well-deserved.”