Powell River General Hospital gives c.diff a good, swift kick goodbye

 “So long, farewell, auf Wiedersehen, good night, adieu, adieu …”

It wouldn’t be a total surprise if Jennifer Irwin started skipping through the corridors of Powell River General Hospital singing the classic Sound of Music number.

Jennifer has good reason to be in a song and dance mood. As the hospital’s infection control practitioner, she has been instrumental in giving the boot to c.diff at the upper Sunshine Coast site.

Jennifer Irwin, infection control practitioner at Powell River General Hospital.

PRGH has now been officially Clostridium difficile-free for 12 months and staff couldn’t be more proud, especially Powell River director Pat Townsley.

“C. diff can sometimes be life-threatening, even in healthy young adults, so PRGH is delighted to have achieved a c.diff free status,” says Pat. “Jennifer’s diligence and leadership in this area has allowed us to achieve these amazing results. I’m very proud of the team here but ultimately it is the patients who benefit.”

In fact, in the last six years there have been no more than two cases per year of C. difficile acquired at PRGH.

Four Cornerstones at work

How did Jennifer make it happen?

Through the Four Cornerstones initiatives, of course:

• Declutter medical/surgical units
• Dedicate areas to store clean equipment and temporary storage for used equipment waiting to be cleaned and disinfected
• Initiate the use of “ green is clean” stickers to identify clean equipment
• Renovation of soiled utility rooms – including work flow: dirty to clean and the installation of Meiko units
• Utilization of the Unit Environmental Declutter Audit tool in coordination with the Patient Care Coordinators
• Partnership and education with nursing staff to ensure patients with gastrointestinal symptoms are placed on GI plus contact isolation without delay
• Partnership with environmental services to ensure the patients environment receives the appropriate isolation clean
• Partnership with Pharmacy Manager to ensure appropriate management of known C. difficile cases
• Hand Hygiene education

“It’s about creating environments and workflows that  supports the principles and enables frontline staff to provide safe quality care for their patients,” says Jennifer.

Team work

Jennifer credits the entire staff at the hospital for their hard work and the dedication they show their patients for achieving C.diff-free status.

“Initiatives are only successful if you have a willing team to support them,” says Jennifer. “I’m extremely lucky to work with a team that supports and respects Infection Control and Prevention Initiatives.”

Next steps

Jennifer will continue to work to keep PRGH C.diff free, but she already has her sights on a new goal.

“We’re going to focus on decreasing urinary tract infections utilizing the ASPIRES initiative.”