Healthcare-associated infections are common adverse events in healthcare settings, causing significant morbidity and mortality. There has been a significant increase in the commitment to Infection Prevention and Control worldwide in recent years. This important role and responsibilities are relying on the infection prevention and control practitioners (IPCPs). The competencies of IPCP is thus critical to the success of infection surveillance, prevention, and control program. IPCPs must ensure that they are competent in addressing the challenges they face and are equipped to be competent in fulfilling their duties. Core competencies and professional development of IPCP differ among countries while some are more progressive than the others. This review is aiming to be a reference to develop IPCP core competencies framework and professional development conducive for Asia Pacific region.
When a clustered coronavirus disease 2019 epidemic occurs, how to prevent and control hospital infection is a challenge faced by each medical institution. Under the normalization situation, building an effective prevention and control system is the premise and foundation for medical institutions to effectively prevent and control infection when dealing with clustered epidemics. According to the principles of control theory, medical institutions should quickly switch to an emergency state, and effectively deal with the external and internal infection risks brought by clustered epidemics by strengthening source control measures, engineering control measures, management control measures and personal protection measures. This article summarizes the experience of handling clustered outbreaks in medical institutions in the prevention and control of coronavirus disease 2019, and aims to provide a reference for medical institutions to take effective prevention and control measures when dealing with clustered outbreaks.
The prevention and control of hospital infection should be precise. Otherwise, a lot of medical resources will be wasted. To achieve accuracy, prevention and control should be considered from the microbial level to enhance its scientific nature. It is specifically reflected in the need of having knowledge of microorganisms, understanding the pathogens of infection and their transmission routes, therefore to carry out prevention and control work contrapuntally. Specific measures include infection surveillance at the microbial level, establishing the idea and habits of infection diagnosis from the microbial level, being familiar with microbial perspective to identify infection risks and vulnerabilities, implementing evidence-based prevention and control measures for different pathogens, encouraging researches on infection control and management at the microbial level, and developing precise prevention and control regulations, standards, or guidelines for specific pathogens.
Coronavirus disease 2019 has been widespread in Hubei province since the beginning of 2020. Many medical teams went to aid Hubei from the whole country. The medical team of West China Hospital of Sichuan University arrived in Jianghan district of Wuhan on January 25, 2020. As one of the earliest teams arriving Hubei, we explored the measures for infection prevention and control of resident, in order to reduce the risk for infection of medical team. The infection prevention and control experiences on the establishment of infection control team, process management, behavior management, clean disinfection, infection monitoring and emergency response and emergency response to exposure of the medical team of West China Hospital were summarized in this article.
Objective To construct a multi-dimensional risk assessment system and scale for the prevention and control risk of respiratory infectious diseases in general hospitals, and make evaluation and early warning. Methods Through the collection of relevant literature on the prevention and control of respiratory infectious diseases during the period from January 1st, 2020 to December 31st, 2022, the articles related to the risk assessment of respiratory infectious diseases such as severe acute respiratory syndrome, COVID-19 and influenza A (H1N1) were screened, and the Delphi method was used to evaluate the articles and establish an indicator system. The normalized weight and combined weight of each item were calculated by analytic hierarchy process. The technique for order preference by similarity to the ideal solution method was used to calculate the risk composite index of 38 clinical departments in a tertiary general hospital in Jiangxi Province in December 2022. Results A total of 16 experts were included, including 4 with senior titles, 8 with associate senior titles, and 4 with intermediate titles. After two rounds of Delphi consult, a total of 4 first-level indicators, 11 second-level indicators, and 38 third-level indicators of risk assessment for the prevention and control of respiratory infectious diseases were determined. The reliability and validity of the scale were good. The top three items with the largest combined weights in the scale were spread by aerosol, spread by respiratory droplet, and commonly used instruments (inspection instruments and monitoring equipment). After a comprehensive analysis on the 38 departments, the top 10 departments in the risk index were the departments of medical imaging, pediatrics, ultrasound, cardiac and vascular surgery, infection, emergency, respiratory and critical care, general medicine, otolaryngology and neck surgery, stomatology, and obstetrics. Conclusions This study constructed the risk assessment scale of respiratory infectious diseases in general hospitals, and the scale has good reliability and validity. The use of this scale for risk assessment of general hospitals can provide a theoretical basis for the risk characteristics of prevention and control of respiratory infectious diseases in general hospitals.
Objective To explore the Shanghai featured day surgery directory to provide policy support for further promoting the development of day surgery and focusing on appropriate diseases. Methods The data of day surgery patients discharged from Shanghai municipal hospitals within 24 hours between January 1 and September 30, 2021 or between January 1 and September 30, 2022 were collected. The number of day surgical cases, average cost and the trend of surgical diseases in 2021 and 2022 were compared. The day surgical diseases suitable for normalized epidemic prevention and control were summarized. Results A total of 35 municipal hospitals were included, including 175 201 patients. A total of 107 101 operations were performed in 2021 and 68 100 in 2022. In the second quarter of 2022, affected by the epidemic situation in Shanghai, the number of cases undergoing day surgery decreased significantly, and the average cost was not significantly affected by the epidemic situation. In 2022, 27 of the day surgery carried out in Shanghai municipal hospitals did not appear in the national recommended directory, and the number of operations for 6 diseases recovered rapidly under the normalized epidemic prevention and control. Conclusion Vigorously implementing day surgery can improve the utilization rate of hospital beds, speed up the turnover of patients, improve the utilization rate of medical resources, and reduce the hospitalization time of patients, the waiting time for surgery and the accompanying time of family members to meet the epidemic prevention requirements.
ObjectiveTo construct a rapid screening tool for the donor of heart dead organ donation (donation after circulatory death, DCD) in the background of novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infection.MethodsBased on literature analysis and core group discussion, two rounds of expert consultation were carried out by Delphi method to establish dimension and index.ResultsThe screening tool included 3 dimensions, including epidemiological history, hospital exposure history, and clinical manifestations, with 15 entries. The mean of the two rounds of expert authority coefficient was 0.757 and 0.768, and the effective recovery rate of the expert consultation questionnaire was 88% and 100%, respectively. The second round dimension and index coordination coefficients was 0.417 and 0.319, respectively. The content validity of the questionnaire was 0.91.ConclusionsThe DCD liver transplant donor's new rapid screening tool for SARS-CoV-2 infection is scientific and reliable. During the epidemic period, the DCD liver transplant donor risk screening tool is of great significance to the prevention and control of liver transplantation risk.
With nearly four decades of progress in healthcare-associated infection prevention and control in China, the national quality control efforts in this field have been ongoing for the past ten years, advancing rapidly with significant achievements. Over the last decade, the team of infection control professionals involved in quality management and control in China has consistently expanded, accompanied by an enhancement of their skills. Management capabilities have steadily grown, and operational mechanisms have been continuously refined. As public hospitals transition into a new phase of high-quality development, emphasizing refined management models and intrinsic development of medical quality, it becomes crucial to further fortify the foundation and foster innovation in infection control work to ensure quality. This article provides an overview of the establishment and implementation of the National Center for Quality Control of Infection Prevention and Control, examines the current shortcomings and challenges in the field, and collectively explores the positioning and direction of the development of quality control efforts for infection prevention and control in China.
Tuberculosis (TB) remains a major global public health threat. The World Health Organization (WHO) 2020–2024 global TB reports provide a comprehensive overview of the TB situation from 2019 to 2023. In 2023, TB re-emerged as the world's leading infectious killer, with an estimated 10.8 million new cases. While the growth in the incidence rate slowed, the number of deaths decreased to 1.25 million. The COVID-19 pandemic significantly disrupted TB control efforts in 2020–2021. As control measures are gradually restored, a positive trend in TB control is emerging. However, significant regional disparities in incidence persist, with eight high-burden countries, including India and China, accounting for over two-thirds of the global total. In 2023, global treatment coverage for drug-resistant TB (DR-TB) was 44.00% with a treatment success rate of 68.00%; yet, with 400 000 new drug-resistant cases, the control situation remains severe. China has achieved remarkable progress in TB control: new cases fell to 741 000 in 2023 (an incidence of 52 per 100 000); mortality decreased significantly; its share of the global DR-TB burden dropped from 14.00% to 7.30%; and the TB/HIV co-infection rate declined from 1.68% in 2019 to 0.66% in 2023, outperforming the global average. Globally, control measures continue to be optimized: treatment coverage increased from 70.00% in 2019 to 75.00% in 2023, the number of people receiving preventive therapy grew to 4.7 million, and rapid diagnostic coverage reached 48.00%. In China, the number of patients treated recovered to 565 000 in 2023, and rapid diagnostic coverage rose to 74.00%. Although technological innovations have enhanced the efficiency of prevention, screening, diagnosis, treatment, and management, achieving the 2030 End TB Strategy goals will require strengthening TB management, building primary healthcare capacity, and targeting interventions for high-risk populations, while balancing resource allocation with technological innovation to address the challenges of a heterogeneous global epidemic.
Zhaojue is a deeply impoverished county located in Liangshan Autonomous Prefecture with high prevalence of human immunodeficiency virus infection. Based on local conditions, West China Hospital of Sichuan University has established a targeted supporting mode called “three-level organization and five-in-one”. This mode integrates administrative support teams, multiple disciplinary technical support teams and on-site expert teams to achieve five goals, including building effective teams, promoting clinical practice, enhancing skill training, focusing on academics and building a systematic platform. This model has improved the ability of treatment on human immunodeficiency virus infection and overall health services in Zhaojue County. It also reflects the responsibility of West China Hospital of Sichuan University in poverty alleviation and public welfare.