APIC
Chicago is a local Chapter of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control
and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC). APIC is a multi-disciplinary voluntary international
organization with over 10,000 members. The purpose of the organization is to influence,
support and improve the quality of healthcare through the practice and management
of infection control and the application of epidemiology in all healthcare settings.
APIC Chicago has approximately 200 members. Educational meetings
are held at least four times per year with an all day conference held in the fall.
The annual business meeting is held the first Wednesday in December. Visit the
meetings tab to find out more about local, regional and national educational meetings. If
you would like to learn more about the organization, contact any member of the
APIC Chicago Board of Directors or visit the membership section tab. What's
New! July 2, 2009 :: Federal MRSA Bills Introduced:
Three MRSA bills have been introduced in the U.S. Congress. The “MRSA Infection
Prevention and Patient Protection Act,” would require hospital reporting
of HA-MRSA and other infections beginning with ICU and high-risk patients and
extending to the screening of all patients by 2014. See bills here: S.
1305 and H.R.
2937. Also, the “Worker Infection Protection Act,” which requires
the development of standards to protect healthcare personnel and first-responders
from workplace exposure to infectious agents and MDRO is available for review
S.
1299. July 2, 2009 :: CDC requests reports of non-respiratory
febrile reactions beginning a few hours after gastrointestinal endoscopy procedures
(see APICList 7-1-09) APIC
Community – APICList
http://www.apic.org | | Febrile
reaction post GI endo | 07-01-2009 | | Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is investigating reports of non-respiratory
febrile reactions beginning a few hours after gastrointestinal endoscopy procedures.
Cases have occurred since June 19, 2009. We are interested in hearing from others
who might have seen clusters of similar cases. If you have seen a recent cluster
of these cases, please contact Arjun Srinivasan at CDC (contact info below). Arjun
Srinivasan, MD
CDR USPHS
Team Lead, Response Team
Medical Director,
Get Smart for Healthcare
Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion
Centers
for Disease Control and Prevention
1600 Clifton Rd. MS A35
Atlanta, GA
30333
Phone: 404.639.2303
Fax: 404.639.2647
asrinivasan@cdc.gov
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June 9, 2009 :: APIC Position
Paper on Automated Surveillance Technologies “The Association for Professionals
in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) supports the use of automated surveillance
technologies as an essential part of infection prevention and control activities”
….. Read
position paper here
June 3, 2009 :: Draft
UTI prevention guidelines for public comment http://wwwn.cdc.gov/publiccomments/
Public comments can be made directly to CAUTI@cdc.gov
Comments must be receive before or on
July 6, 2009.
May 26, 2009 :: Mentorship
Program for Chicago APIC members
Click
here to read more here
May 17, 2009 :: A message
to APIC Chicago Members: Please review TJC proposed revisions to the National
Patient Safety Goals (NPSG) ( NPSG 7 and 13 directly impact Infection Control
Programs) and comment on them. They are available for comment for 6 weeks starting
May 12, 2009 at the following link: http://www.jointcommission.org/Standards/FieldReviews/fr_npsg_hap.htm
May 7, 2009
APIC's Raffle for the Research
Foundation is holding a raffle at 2009 Annual Conference with four large-ticket
items
Click
here to read more here H1NI Flu Resources
May
6, 2009
May14,
2009 :: Chicago APIC educational meeting and registration at Loyola Medical
Center (Maywood, IL)
Read
more here
February 2009 - Informational
letter from Chicago APIC Legislative Representative Mary Alice Lavin about
Illinois MRSA legislation - SB 185, the “MRSA Screening, Prevention, and
Reporting Act” and SB 1712, the “K-12 Educational MRSA Prevention Act” Read
More Here
January 2009 Announcement: APIC
Chicago Metro Area Chapter Member Help Line Call Me For Questions - - As a
service to Chicago APIC members, a list of members who are ready and willing to
assist with questions on a variety of infection prevention topics is available.
There is also a perminate link on the left column of the Resource
Page. January 2009: APIC Chicago Metro
Area Chapter Survey – Executive Summary was presented at the January Chicago
APIC meeting, Click
here to access the summary
December 2008
CBIC news: Elimination of 2 year practice requirement
Read
more here
December 19: Proposed rules
for the Illinois Adverse Health Care Events Reporting Code should be published
in the Illinois Register on Friday, December 19, 2008, and the 45-day comment
period (First Notice) will begin on that date.
October
2008 The Compendium of Strategies
to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections in Acute Care Hospitals was produced
by SHEA and IDSA, in partnership with AHA. APIC, and The Joint Commission. These
five leading healthcare organizations have come together to publish practical,
science-based strategies to help prevent the six most important healthcare-associated
infections (HAIs). Click
here to access the compendium
August 2008
CMS Issues Final IPPS Rule for Fiscal Year
2009
Click
here to view the Final Rule
Click
here to view Press Release related to the Final Rule
20
July 08 IMPORTANT
IDPH REPORTING UPDATE
May 9, 2008 CMS-ProposeHospAcqConditions2009
April 2008
CMS-1390-Proposed Changes to the Hospital Inpatient Prospective
Payment Systems and Fiscal Year 2009 (Display Date: 04/14/2008; Publication
Date: 04/30/2008)
http://www.cms.hhs.gov/AcuteInpatientPPS/
April
15, 2008 Hearing
entitled "Healthcare Associated Infections: A Preventable Epidemic"
held Wednesday, April 16th before the U.S. House of Representatives Committee
on Government Oversight and Reform.
Reade More Here:
March 14, 2008 Amendment
to IL Control of Tuberculosis Code (77 Ill. Adm. Code 696) Illinois Register Citation:
32 Ill. Reg. 4010) The rules previously required
the use of the Mantoux tuberculin skin test (TST) as the only test approved for
screening for LTBI. The amendment allows the use of a newly developed FDA-approved
blood test for the detection of patients with active TB disease or LTBI.
Click
here to read more
October 2007
OSHA Annual TB fit test requirement: Lisa Tomlinson, APIC Director
of Government Affairs, has confirmed that the requirement for ANNUAL FIT TEST
(TB) is enforceable on October 1, 2007 despite much effort to change and prevent
this requirement.
>>
Read more here
August 2007
The Governor signed both HB 192 and SB 233 on 8/20/07.
July 2007 The IL Hospital
Report Card Act became effective March 28, 2007. Read
more here
June 2007
"The Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious
Agents in Healthcare Settings 2007" (1.39MB, 219 pages) updates and expands
the 1996 Guideline for Isolation Precautions in Hospitals. This guideline can
be accessed at http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/gl_isolation.html
or http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/guidelines/Isolation2007.pdf.
This document is associated with the Management of Multidrug-Resistant Organism
2006 PDF (233 KB, 74 page) guideline published last year http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/dhqp/pdf/ar/MDROGuideline2006.pdf.
June 7, 2007 IDPH has
published a memo (6/7/07) that includes many useful CA MRSA references. Click
here for the IDPH memo The healthcare provider guidelines
highlighted in the memo is entitled “Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus
aureus in Illinois: Guidelines for the Primary Care Provider”. It can be
accessed on the web at http://www.idph.state.il.us/health/infect/MRSA_Provider.htm
May 3, 2007 Facemasks
and Respirators Could Provide Added Value When Used in Combination with Other
Preventive Measures
May 2, 2007
Chicago Tribune Commentary ‘Keeping patients safe’
by Michael O. Vernon, President, APIC Chicago (Association for Professionals in
Infection Control and Epidemiology); Director, Communicable Disease Control, Cook
County Department of Public Health. Read
More
April 30, 2007
Chicago Tribune 'Super bug' bill targets hospitals: State
measure could dictate fight against deadly bacterium’
Read More
April 25, 2007
CMS Proposes Changes For Hospital Inpatient Prospective Payment
System It is noteworthy that use of "Present on Admissions Codes"
also take effect on October 1, 2007. Proposed
conditions that will not be covered include HAI related issues: Catheter-associated
urinary tract infections; pressure ulcers; Staphylococcus aureus septicema; and
"serious preventable events:" object left in surgery; air embolism,
and blood incompatibility. http://www.apic.org/EUpdate
April 2007 Recommendations
for Surveillance of Clostridium difficile-Associated Disease McDonald
LC, et.al. (Ad Hoc Clostridium difficile Surveillance Working Group) ICHE 2007
Feb;28 (2):140-5
March 2007 Available
now on APIC web site (under Government Advocacy): Guide
to the Elimination of Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus in Hospital
Settings, created by the MRSA Task Force and released on March 14,
2007, provides infection prevention and control professionals with a step-by-step
approach to battle MRSA transmission. A range of approaches has been included
to make the guide appropriate for any size or type of facility.
MRSA
Legislative Issues
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