UIC Epicenter for Prevention of Healthcare Associated Infections

 描述（由申请人提供）：由于实践中基于证据的变化，美国医疗保健相关感染（HAI）的负担有所下降。准备将埃博拉病毒病引入美国，然而，紧张的医疗机构的能力，和两个卫生保健工作者（HCW）的HAI表明，准备工作并不完全有效。需要循证指南来选择和实施感染控制和预防措施，以应对新出现的严重传染病。UIC预防医疗相关感染中心的目标是进行基础和早期转化研究，以促进HAI 在严重和新发传染病的背景下，在患者和医务工作者中开展预防工作。感染性患者将病原体释放到环境中，然后通过环境运输到易感者的组织中，在那里可能发生感染。因此，排放过程和环境污染是通过多种途径暴露的HAI风险的关键决定因素，但病原体排放和环境负荷的大小特征不明显。医务工作者穿戴个人防护设备，以防止病原体到达可能发生感染的组织，但对环境中有多少病原体穿透设备的了解有限。这些代表了关于HAI风险的基础知识的关键差距，将通过UIC Epicenter的活动加以解决。具体而言，将在具有模拟医疗保健活动的实验室环境和医疗保健环境中进行研究，以确定 环境污染的程度和决定因素，并定量测试不同的PPE组合的有效性。将通过对医疗保健和工业环境中使用的个人防护设备进行清单和广泛范围的评价，确定个人防护设备的潜在组合进行测试。这些信息将有助于识别非PPE感染控制和预防干预措施，满足选择PPE的医疗保健组织的信息需求，并促进HCW和患者中HAI风险的定量评估。根据我们的调查结果，我们将提出并进行新的培训内容和交付方法的试点评估，这将改善HCW和医疗保健组织对严重和新兴传染病的准备。这项工作的成果将是可推广的知识和方法，可供医疗机构，政府机构和公共卫生研究人员使用，以有效和系统地计划预防HAI。

 DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The burden of healthcare associated infections (HAIs) in the United States has decreased owing to evidence- based changes in practice. Preparations for introduction of Ebola Virus Disease to the U.S., however, strained the capacity of healthcare organizations, and two HAIs among healthcare workers (HCWs) showed that preparations were not fully effective. Evidence-based guidance is required for the selection and implementation of infection control and prevention precautions in anticipation of emerging and severe infectious diseases. The goal of the UIC Epicenter for Prevention of Healthcare Associated Infections is to perform basic and early translational research that will facilitate HAI prevention among patients and HCWs in the context of severe and emerging infectious diseases. Infectious patients emit pathogens into the environment, which are then transported through the environment to tissues on a susceptible person where infection may occur. Emission processes and environmental contamination, therefore, are key determinants of HAI risk through multiple routes of exposure, but the magnitude of pathogen emission and environmental load is poorly characterized. Personal protective equipment (PPE) is worn by HCWs to prevent pathogens from reaching tissues where infection may occur, but there is limited knowledge about what fraction of pathogens in the environment break-through the equipment. These represent key gaps in fundamental knowledge about HAI risk that will be addressed through the activities of the UIC Epicenter. Specifically, studies will be performed in laboratory settings with simulated healthcare activities and in healthcare settings to identify the magnitude and determinants of environmental contamination, and quantitatively test the effectiveness of different combinations of PPE. Potential combinations of PPE will be identified for testing through an inventory and broadly scoped evaluation of PPE used in healthcare and industrial settings. This information will facilitate the identification of non-PPE infection contrl and prevention interventions, meet information needs of healthcare organizations selecting PPE, and facilitate quantitative assessment of HAI risk among HCWs and patients. Informed by our findings, we will propose and conduct pilot-scale evaluation of new training content and delivery methods that will improve the preparedness of HCWs and healthcare organizations for severe and emerging infectious diseases. The outcome of this work will be generalizable knowledge and methods that can be used by healthcare organizations, government agencies and public health researchers to efficiently and systematically plan to prevent HAIs.