83. During A Million Patient-Days of Surveillance, Low Levels of Infection Prevention Staff Correlated with Higher Rates of Some Healthcare-Associated Infections

Abstract

BackgroundReports regarding the correlations between infection preventionist (IP) staffing levels and healthcare-associated infections (HAI) are scarce, conflicting, and crucial for resource allocation and effort prioritization. We evaluated such correlations from January 1, 2012 to March 1, 2019 at a 528-bed teaching hospital in Rochester, NY; a period when IP staffing levels fluctuated between the recommended ratio of 1 IP: 80 patients and a critically low of 1 IP: >375.MethodsStandardized National Health Safety Network (NHSN) definitions, along with laboratory events, re-admissions, interactions with surgical teams, and an independent data management company were used for case finding of catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI), Clostridiodes difficile (CDI), central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI), carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae, and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). Colon, prosthetic knee and hip joint, hysterectomies, and coronary artery bypass graft surgical site infections (SSI) were also studied. Standardized infection ratios (SIR) were extracted from NHSN. Staffing levels were grouped into low (/ = 7 FTE). Correlations between HAI rates, SIR, and staffing levels were examined using Poisson and T-tests with the R statistical package.ResultsThe average daily census of 451 resulted in 1.18 million total patient-days of surveillance. Periods of low and recommended IP levels occurred at similar seasons and for similar durations. There were fewer CDI, CAUTI, CLABSI, and MRSA infections when IP staff were at recommended levels than when IP staff were at the lowest level, but only CDI and CLABSI rates were significantly lower (P = 0.003 and 0.005, respectively). CLABSI SIR was 1.07 and 0.64 during periods of low and recommended staffing levels, respectively (P = 0.004). No significant differences occurred in SSI, either by type or by combined.ConclusionHospitals often cannot achieve or maintain recommended IP staffing levels. Our findings suggest that, during critical personnel shortages, IP may have more impact by focusing on the types of HAI that correlated with preventionist staffing levels. This is among the largest such study to date, and uniquely includes the most types of HAI.Disclosures All Authors: No reported Disclosures.