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Gut Check: Clostridium difficile Testing and Treatment in the Molecular Testing Era

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2014

Whitney R. Buckel ,
Edina Avdic ,
Karen C. Carroll ,
Vidhya Gunaseelan ,
Eric Hadhazy  and
Sara E. Cosgrove
Whitney R. Buckel*
Affiliation:
Intermountain Healthcare, Intermountain Medical Center, Murray, Utah
Edina Avdic
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins Health System, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland
Karen C. Carroll
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland Division of Medical Microbiology, Department of Pathology, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland.
Vidhya Gunaseelan
Affiliation:
Johns Hopkins Health System, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland
Eric Hadhazy
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
Sara E. Cosgrove
Affiliation:
Division of Infectious Diseases, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland
*
Address correspondence to Whitney R. Buckel, PharmD, Intermountain Medical Center, 5121 South Cottonwood Street, Murray, UT 84107 ([email protected]).
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Abstract

We evaluated the impact of nursing education and stewardship interventions on Clostridium difficile testing and treatment appropriateness. Diarrhea documentation increased for those with positive tests (45% to 70%); pretreatment laxative use decreased (50% to 19%). Appropriate treatment increased for severe infection (57% to 93%), but all asymptomatically colonized patients were treated.

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2014;00(0): 1–5

Type
Concise Communications
Information
Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology , Volume 36 , Supplement 2 , February 2015 , pp. 217 - 221
Copyright
© 2014 by The Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America. All rights reserved 

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Footnotes

Presented at IDWeek; San Diego, CA; October 19, 2012.

References

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