Background: Healthcare facility-onset Clostridioides difficile infection is associated with adverse clinical outcomes and hospital reimbursement. A four-year review involving eleven hospitals of the NYC Health + Hospital system was undertaken.
Methods: From 2016-2019, infection rates and standardized infection ratios (SIRs) were gathered from National Healthcare Safety Network. The C. difficile testing scheme at each facility was recorded.
Results: For the eleven hospitals, declines in rates of C. difficile infection and SIRs were documented. However, this decline was driven by two hospitals that had high rates of infection in 2016; for the remaining nine hospitals, rates of infection and SIRs were at a plateau. Most hospitals used a testing scheme that fell into the nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) category for SIR risk adjustment. Hospitals that used the algorithm glutamate dehydrogenase (GDH) and toxin A/B immunoassay (EIA) followed by NAAT for discrepant results had significantly lower rates of C. difficile infection but similar SIRs.
Conclusions: For most hospitals in this system, rates of C. difficile remained level. Within the NAAT test categories, SIRs may not correlate with infection rates. Given the controversies regarding testing and calculation of SIRs, alternatives to C. difficile infection should be sought as a hospital quality measurement.
Keywords: Clostridioides difficile; Hospital acquired infection.
Copyright © 2021 Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.