Background: Hospital-acquired C. difficile colitis is associated with increased length of stay (LOS) and significant morbidity and mortality. During hospitalization, patients visit many procedural, diagnostic, and treatment areas throughout the hospital, presenting opportunities for spore contamination of surfaces and nosocomial disease transmission. We developed a novel methodology using electronic health record (EHR) data to map [...]

Background: Hospital-acquired C. difficile colitis is associated with increased length of stay (LOS) and significant morbidity and mortality. During hospitalization, patients visit many procedural, diagnostic, and treatment areas throughout the hospital, presenting opportunities for spore contamination of surfaces and nosocomial disease transmission. We developed a novel methodology using electronic health record (EHR) data to map [...]

Background: There are 400,000 cases and 30,000 deaths from Clostridium difficile (C. diff) infections in the United States annually. Efforts to reduce the transmission of C. diff have focused on patients with diarrhea, however, many patients with C. diff are carriers who do not have symptoms. Because they are not isolated, carriers serve as a [...]

Background: Timely Clostridium difficile Infection (CDI) testing is challenging but is important for faster and appropriate isolation and treatment of patients. Few studies have specifically addressed effective methods to hasten CDI testing without relying on PCR. We sought to use Quality Improvement methodologies including the Plan-Do-Study-Act (PDSA) Cycle and Control Charts to reduce CDI testing [...]

Case Presentation: 52 year old female with history of stage IV invasive colorectal adenocarcinoma of sigmoid colon with multifocal bilobar liver metastasis s/p sigmoid colon resection, diverting loop ileostomy and partial hepatectomy (two stage surgery 6 weeks apart) admitted for one day of dyspnea improved by laying down and worsened by exertion/sitting up. Initially patient [...]