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Thought Leader Session

Guidelines Session

Aging Adult Track

Additional Registration Fee

Research Snapshot Theater: Quality and Patient Safety/Infectious Disease, Adult

Stop the Spread: Reducing Hospital-Acquired C difficile Infections in a Community ICU

Sunday, March 22, 2026

2:30 PM - 3:30 PM Central Time

Location: Connections Central - RST 11

KG

Kamalpreet K. Gill, MD

Trinity Health, California

Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose.
Hamna Javed, MD

Saint Agnes Medical Center, California

Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose.
AC

Andrew Clark, MD (he/him/his)

California

Disclosure(s): No relevant financial relationship(s) to disclose.
AA

Aftab Arif, MD

Resident
Saint Agnes Medical Center, California

Disclosure information not submitted.
AS

Ajaypreet Singh, MD

Resident
Saint Agnes Medical Center, California

Disclosure information not submitted.
AN

Amritpal Nat, MD

Director of Intensive Care Unit
Saint Agnes Medical Center, California

Disclosure information not submitted.
PB

Pankaj Bharati, , MD

Intensivist
Saint Agnes Medical Center, California

Disclosure information not submitted.

Introduction: Hospital-acquired Clostridioides difficile infections (HA-CDI) are a leading cause of healthcare-associated diarrhea, contributing to patient morbidity, prolonged stays, and higher healthcare costs. In 2024, our 436-bed community hospital surpassed the NHSN benchmark of 6.3 cases per 10,000 patient-days. A multidisciplinary QI team was launched to identify modifiable risk factors and implement targeted, evidence-based strategies to reduce HA-CDI, with institutional priority placed on ICU rates.

Methods: Using the Plan-Do-Study-Act model, a year-long QI project began in January 2025. Team members included physicians, residents, pharmacists, infection preventionists, nursing leadership, EVS, clinical educators, and executive leadership. Interventions included:
- Environmental cleaning enhancements with sporadical agents, UV disinfection, and monthly random surface cultures.
- Hand hygiene auditing with real-time feedback, unit-level dashboards, and a comprehensive hospital-wide advertising campaign supported by the C-suite, including follow-up messaging from leadership to reinforce staff engagement.
- Antibiotic stewardship via daily pharmacy-led review of high-risk antibiotics and prescriber feedback.
- Contact precaution reinforcement with PPE reorganization and quarterly donning/doffing education.

Results: Between 2023 and 2024, hospital-wide CDI cases decreased from 27 to 26 (↓3.7%), while ICU cases rose from 4 to 7 (↑75%), prompting a focused ICU initiative. Since initiating interventions in January 2025, no ICU CDI cases have been reported through March 2025. Hand hygiene compliance rose dramatically in late 2024, peaking near 100% in October, with >900 observations that month. Increased observation frequency and executive follow-through were key contributors to sustained improvement.

Conclusions: A targeted, multidisciplinary QI initiative involving front-line teams and executive leadership led to early reductions in ICU HA-CDI. Environmental disinfection, stewardship, and hand hygiene which was amplified through C-suite–supported campaign. This drove cultural change. Ongoing monitoring, leadership engagement, and staff reinforcement remain critical for sustaining success and expanding impact.