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Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital, organised a two-day national conference “ABMH IPC 2013” on infection prevention. CEO’s, COO’s, Medical Administrators and Quality Heads from hospitals like Apollo Hospital, New Delhi; Narayana Hrudyalaya, Ahmedabad; Max Hospitals, New Delhi; Tata Memorial Hospital, Mumbai; Kokilaben Dhirubhai Ambani Hospital, Mumbai; Max healthcare, New Delhi; Columbia Asia, Pune; Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata; Fortis, Chennai and Breach Candy Hospital from Mumbai amongst others, discussed various factors for prevention and control of infection in the healthcare set-ups.
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During the conference various approaches, practices and methodologies were shared to bring about an improvement in infection control practices at hospitals to render quality services for better patient care and safety. The conference also had paper and poster presentation sessions which enabled the participants to showcase various initiatives undertaken by them at their hospitals to bring about an improvement in infection control practices.
The topics discussed for prevention and control of infection in the healthcare set-ups were:
- Burden of HAI and effective collaboration and leadership in decreasing HAI
- Evidence-based infection control – how to perform
- Infection control indicators and benchmarking of infection rates
- Cost saving in infection control without compromising quality – various strategies
- Emerging threat of MDRGN – Outline evidence based control strategies
- Areas of research and practical aspects of control of MDRGN
- Implementation of various practices to control MDRGN and choice of antibiotics in MDRGN
- Surveillance data for quality improvement in ICU – How to plan, implement and maintain
- Medication delivery strategies – techniques and technology for patient safety
- Hand hygiene — The ultimate behaviour change – strategies to improve compliance
- Re-use of single use devices – safe or unsafe
- Antibiotic stewardship
- Recent advances in microbial resistance – Focus on genetics
- Regulation of disinfection techniques in healthcare setting
- Biomedical waste management and newer disinfectants
Active debate sessions on antibiotic use were also held with emphasis on:
- Prophylactic antibiotic use after 2-3 doses
- Restricted antibiotic use – Role of cultures
- Open ICU vs Closed ICU
An opinion based discussion was also held on the need for an interdisciplinary meet with nursing/ intensivist/microbiologist/ physician. Different case scenarios like role of foot protection (slippers/foot cover / no cover at all) were discussed.
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Sanjay Bhattacharya, Tata Medical Centre, Kolkata said, “Corporate hospital do have good infection control mechanisms in place. However, on the other hand, infection control in rural India is also a big challenge. We normally talk about infection control in corporate hospitals, however, corporate hospitals constitute a very small percentage of total hospitals available in India. Large chunk of Indian population belongs to rural India. Infection control measures in hospitals serving this population is an issue needed to be sorted out.”
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“The event was a grand success and also organised as a first of its kind in Pune city. It is a very good platform for all of us from the healthcare sector to review the current status of infection control and prevention in India and identify latest strategies to improve them effectively. This sort of event also sensitises the policy makers, healthcare professionals for adopting proactive measures to improve the healthcare delivery at hospitals. We plan to come up with various such initiatives in the near future to improve the overall quality of healthcare delivery in India,” said Rekha Dubey, COO, Aditya Birla Memorial Hospital.
