Lessons learned from a prolonged and costly norovirus outbreak at a Scottish medicine of the elderly hospital: case study
| Autor: | S. Ballard-Smith, J Stevenson, F. Cameron, A. Ovens, Kate Templeton, C. Crombie, Alison Hardie, C. Horsburgh, Ingolfur Johannessen, J. Danial, L. Harvey |
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| Rok vydání: | 2014 |
| Předmět: |
0301 basic medicine
Microbiology (medical) Male medicine.medical_specialty Quality management 030106 microbiology medicine.disease_cause Disease Outbreaks 03 medical and health sciences 0302 clinical medicine Acute care Health care Disease Transmission Infectious Medicine Humans 030212 general & internal medicine Aged Caliciviridae Infections Aged 80 and over Cross Infection Infection Control business.industry Norovirus Outbreak General Medicine Health Care Costs Bed capacity medicine.disease Hospitals Infectious Diseases Scotland Action plan Female Medical emergency Health board business |
| Zdroj: | The Journal of hospital infection. 93(2) |
| ISSN: | 1532-2939 |
| Popis: | Summary Background Norovirus outbreaks are a major burden for healthcare facilities globally. Aim Lessons learned to inform an action plan to improve facilities as well as responses to norovirus within the medicine of the elderly (MoE) hospital as well as other NHS (National Health Service) Lothian facilities. Methods This study investigated the impact of a prolonged outbreak at an MoE hospital in one of the 14 Scottish health boards between February and March 2013. Findings In all, 143 patients (14.80 cases per 1000 inpatient bed-days) and 30 healthcare staff (3.10 cases per 1000 inpatient bed-days) were affected clinically and 63 patients were confirmed virologically. Restricting new admissions to affected units resulted in 1192 lost bed-days. The cost due to lost bed-days in addition to staff absence and management of the outbreak was estimated at £341,534 for this incident alone. At certain points during the outbreak, the whole facility was closed with resulting major impact on the health board's acute care hospitals. Conclusion Due to the outbreak, new measures were implemented for the first time within NHS Lothian that included floor-by-floor (instead of individual) ward closures, enhanced cleaning with chlorine-based products throughout the hospital, reduction in bed capacity with enhanced bed-spacing and interruption to direct admissions from the Board's general practice surgeries, and temporary suspension of visitors to affected areas. Together with regular communication to staff, patients, relatives, and the public throughout the outbreak and good engagement of staff groups in management of the incident, the outbreak was gradually brought under control. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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