Key points
- CDC's Global Action in Healthcare Network (GAIHN) developed a healthcare-associated infection (HAI) point prevalence survey (PPS) for hospitals with limited resources. The PPS helps these facilities track and rapidly respond to HAIs and also highlights areas for improvement.
- GAIHN partner hospitals in Jordan are using the system to enhance patient safety and strengthen the country's healthcare system against future challenges.
- Tools like the GAIHN HAI PPS make America safer by equipping countries to independently identify and stop infectious disease threats before those threats reach the United States.
Overview
Through the Global Action in Healthcare Network (GAIHN) – a part of CDC's Global Antimicrobial Resistance Laboratory and Response Network – CDC, with the support of CRDF Global, is partnering with Jordan's Ministry of Health and local network hospitals to conduct point prevalence surveys (PPS) of HAIs to improve healthcare safety.
Point prevalence surveys
A PPS provides a snapshot of how common HAIs are in healthcare settings at a specific time. They deliver near real-time feedback, enabling healthcare facilities to act swiftly with infection prevention and control (IPC) interventions.
The GAIHN HAI PPS equips hospitals with tools and methods tailored to resource-limited settings, tracking HAIs alongside antibiotic use, invasive device use (such as catheters or central lines), microbiology, and key IPC processes. These insights highlight areas for improvement, guiding targeted interventions to reduce HAIs, and improve patient safety.
GAIHN HAI PPS guides IPC action
From June 2023 to September 2024, Jordan's Ministry of Health and five GAIHN healthcare facilities – four public and one non-governmental/non-profit – conducted the GAIHN HAI PPS. Hospital IPC teams collected data, gaining critical insights into HAI trends. Clinical and hospital leaders used PPS results to prioritize areas for improvement including:
- Hand hygiene
- Environmental cleaning
- Monitoring of best practices for catheter and central line insertion, maintenance, and timely removal
Impact
The Jordan Ministry of Health plans to expand PPS implementation to additional hospitals, including facilities in other governates and pediatric wards. The PPS findings have also motivated the Ministry to develop a National Action Plan to combat HAIs. Empowered by the process, hospitals that have completed the PPS plan to conduct annual follow-ups on their own, using user-friendly network tools.
By improving HAI detection and prevention, GAIHN equips countries to independently address infectious disease threats in healthcare settings. This work not only enhances patient safety in GAIHN partner countries and strengthens their healthcare systems against future challenges but also helps stop infectious disease threats from crossing borders, helping keep Americans safe.