Back in 2013 our Licensing team joined with our Infectious Disease Services shop and our Healthcare Associated Infections Advisory Committee to put together a day-long conference aimed at improving infection control practices in our dialysis facilities. The ADVICE collaborative brought together licensed dialysis providers, the dialysis network, federal partners, and public health professionals to find new ways to promote infection control, build relationships, and identify how public health can assist our providers. Our collaborative was identified as a Best Practice Pilot and featured at the CMS Conference Roadmap to Eliminate HAI: 2013 Action Plan Conference.
From the collaborative, the End-Stage Renal Disease subcommittee of our Healthcare Associated Infections Advisory Group was developed- and they’ve already started to work on some of the ideas that came out of the collaborative. The subcommittee consists of dialysis providers, public health professionals, and experts in infection control. They’re working on staff/patient infection control, best practices, vaccination educational projects, and identifying resources that may be useful to the dialysis providers.
A follow-up ADVICE collaborative is scheduled for May 16, 2014 and will be held at the Black Canyon Conference Center. It’ll be another day long conference focused on the needs identified at the last meeting, the progress made by the advisory committee on meeting those needs, and identifying best practices and new innovative ideas that are occurring in Arizona and around the country.
Speakers from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment and Mayo have been invited to discuss some of their current and future projects with dialysis facilities. The facilities will also be surveyed to identify current needs in infection control practices, and experts will be brought in to discuss these topics in breakout sessions and to identify challenges and opportunities for improving infection control. Keep on the lookout for the registration if you would like to join the collaborative.
