eBulletin December 2006 Edition 24
In this Edition:
Reminders:
! Type 2 Data Submission:
Quarter 3 Reports were released this week. The deadline for data to be forwarded
to the VICNISS Coordinating Centre for Quarter 4, 2006 is Wednesday,
31st January 2007. The corresponding report is then due to be posted
mid-March 2007.
! Type 1 Data Submission:
Quarter 3 Reports were released this week. The deadline for data to be forwarded
to the VICNISS Coordinating Centre for Quarter 4, 2006 is Friday,
2nd February 2007. The corresponding report is then due to be posted
mid-March 2007
Xmas and New Year Period
Please note that the VICNISS Coordinating Centre will be continue to operate during
the Xmas and New Year period.
We'd like to take this opportunity to thank all the Infection Control teams for
their hard work in collecting and submitting VICNISS data during 2006.
From everybody at the VICNISS Coordinating Centre, we'd like to wish you all a VERY
SAFE and happy Festive Season.
Annual Surveillance Plans
Just a reminder to all sites, your Annual Surveillance Plans are due to be submitted
by 31st December 2006.
There are still a few Type 1 hospitals that have not submitted a surveillance plan
for 2007 which are required as per the Type 1 performance indicator document that
is available from the following link:
Type1 Performance Indicators (pdf)
If you are having difficulty in deciding which activities should be undertaken,
let us know and we may be able to help.
Type 1 Satisfaction Surveys
Due Friday 15th December 2006 – please take the time to fill these out as we do
take your comments into consideration when planning future activities
Form changes
Please ensure that you are using the most recent version of ALL data forms, if you are using Type 1 forms dated prior to 2005 the form you are using is
well past it’s use by date.
From 1st January 2007 the VSHN and CRAN forms will no longer be in use and have
been replaced by the Standard Type Surgical Site Form 1.1 which has also been updated.
VICNISS User Group
The November VUG was held to enable participants in the Type 1 program to present
their most difficult surgical site infection cases for discussion and consensus.
Participants found the debate around some of the cases very useful in terms of the
difficulties encountered when applying case definitions, particularly when there
is internal disagreement about whether a case actually meets the VICNISS definitions.
These types of sessions will be repeated throughout 2007 and will include a session
devoted to ICU definitions and discussion of clinical cases. The next VUG date will
be posted on the VICNISS web site in early 2007.
Inaugural VICPA/VICNISS Journal club
More than 30 people attended the launch of the inaugural Journal Club – Where’s
the Evidence. In summary the venue, location and the time of day were acceptable
to the majority of respondents who also indicated that they felt that the Journal
Club had been a good investment of their time. (Thankyou to Lorraine Wilson for
compiling the responses)
The two presenters and their topics were both received extremely well. General comments
yielded suggestions for future Journal Clubs and affirmed that this new initiative
had been useful and well received. The next Journal Club will be held in February
2007 and will be advertised in both the VICNISS and VICPA bulletins when a date,
venue and speakers have been confirmed. The Journal club will meet every 2 months
in April, June, August, October and December 2007.
For more information please contact Claire Boardman or the VICPA Journal Club Coordinator,
Lorraine Wilson (VICPA Education Officer) via email: lorrainew @ fmh.com.au
Multiple procedures
Just a reminder about the “multiple procedures” field – this field should be marked
“Yes” only when there are multiple procedures through the same incision.
Operations such as bilateral hernia repairs through separate incisions SHOULD NOT
be counted as multiple procedures. In the case of bilateral hernias these count
as two procedures, as there are two incisions and thus two chances to contract a
surgical site infection. This field should be marked “Yes” when, for example a CAGS
procedure is done at the same time as a valve repair or when two separate abdominal
procedures are carried out through the same incision.
Type 2 surveillance update
Process indicator modules can be repeated. This can be especially useful if interventions
were implemented after completing the module the first time. The results after completing
the module the second time assist in monitoring the effectiveness of the interventions.
A detailed report outlining the results from the recent satisfaction survey is nearly
completed. It is to be forwarded to all IC consultants in the smaller hospitals.
One (amongst many) notable result - Over half of the hospitals (61.2%) allocated
> 6 hours per week for Infection control activities- the consultant in each hospital
usually spent up to 2 hours per week on activities related to the VICNISS surveillance
program (76.5%).
Consumer Focus Group
Staff from the VICNISS Coordinating Centre recently conducted a Consumer Focus Group.
The objective of the Focus Group was to identify what type of hospital level data
on hospital acquired infections consumers wish to receive, and in what type of format.
Some of the key messages to come from the group was that simple data was preferred,
comparisons to NNIS data was not seen to be meaningful for consumers, and only annual
data need be presented.
VICNISS staff will now be working on a format for hospital level data that includes
input from the consumer group. A draft will then be presented to the VICNISS Advisory
Committee before seeking comment from hospitals.
Infection Control Literature Review, December
2006
Our most recent literature
review, for December, compiled by Dr Emma McBryde, VICNISS Infectious Diseases
Physician, discusses current research on the following selected topics:
- New HICPAC guidelines for management of multi-drug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in
hospitals.
- Application of the pneumonia severity index (PSI) leads to better use of healthcare
resources
- Postoperative hospital acquired infection is associated with increased costs of
care and with increased utilisation of medical resources.
Performance Indicators 2007
The performance indicators for 2007 will remain unchanged from 2006. The Type 1
indicators can be viewed by clicking
here, and the Type 2 indicators can be viewed by clicking
here.
VICNISS International Conference
Award - Asia Pacific Society of Infection Control (APSIC), July 2007 Kuala Lumpur
As announced at the launch of our Year 4 Annual Report, the VICNISS Coordinating
Centre, in conjunction with the Victorian Partnership in Advanced Computing (VPAC)
is offering an International Conference award.
The VICNISS International Conference award aims to facilitate attendance by one
Infection Control nurse at the International Congress of the Asia Pacific Society
of Infection Control (APSIC), July 2007 Kuala Lumpur. The award is only available
to those who have an Oral Presentation accepted for the conference. The award will
fund one economy airfare (to the value of $1500) and full conference registration
to APSIC 2007.
To view the terms and conditions of the award, please see the VICNISS Application Form (PDF File
35kb, opens in new window)
The closing date for applications to VICNISS is Friday 1st June 2007.
To view details of this conference, go to
www.apsic2007.com/.
Abstracts for APSIC 2007 close on 14 February 2007.
VICNISS Coordinating Centre wish to acknowledge and are very grateful for the support
of VPAC with this award.
