The Society for Hospital Epidemiology of America and the Infectious Diseases Society of America partnered with several healthcare organizations to publish evidence-based and best practice recommendations for preventing healthcare-associated infections in acute care hospitals. Referred to as the “SHEA Compendium”, these recommendations have served as a cornerstone of infection control and prevention since their publication and are a staple on the desks of infection preventionists and healthcare epidemiologists worldwide.
The Compendium focuses on strategies to prevent healthcare associated infections like surgical site infections, central-line associated bloodstream infections, catheter-associated urinary tract infections, ventilator-associated pneumonia, Clostridium difficile, and Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. The Compendium includes information on outbreak management and special circumstances, and recommends performance measures to monitor implementation and outcomes.
The revised 2014 version of the Compendium sections is published by the journal Infection Control and Healthcare Epidemiology and is freely available online. This year’s update also features a new section focusing on strategies to prevent infection through hand hygiene, which is the simplest and most effective approach to infection prevention.
