Methodist Dallas Medical Center Receives Prestigious CDC Award

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has awarded Methodist Dallas Medical Center the prestigious CDC Foundation scholarship. The scholarship was awarded in recognition of Methodists efforts to successfully implement the strategies outlined in the CDC Campaign to Prevent Antimicrobial Resistance in Healthcare Settings. The award was based on an abstract submitted for presentation at the annual conference of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) and outlined steps Methodist Dallas has taken to ensure that patients undergoing surgical procedures receive appropriate antimicrobial prophylaxis. The abstract focused on the success of a multidisciplinary team approach to achieving benchmark results.

The Foundation awards recognize projects that implement at least one of the four strategies of the CDC campaign: to prevent infection, diagnose and treat infection effectively, use antimicrobials wisely, and prevent transmission. Methodist Dallas is one of only three institutions nationwide given the award.

Its an honor to win this award and to be recognized alongside an institution like Vanderbilt University Medical Center, which has gained national recognition for its evidence-based quality improvement initiatives, says Zakir Shaikh, MD, MPH, medical director of infection control at Methodist Dallas. Prior to participation in the TSPC project, Methodist Dallas had performed well compared to other Texas institutions, but our latest numbers represent even better performance and bring us in line with national benchmark institutions.

The abstract detailed the procedures Methodist Dallas instituted as part of the Texas Surgical Infection Prevention Collaborative (TSPC), which began 18 months ago. Methodist Dallas met the goal of achieving greater than 90 percent compliance in the three core measures: administration of antibiotic within one hour preceding surgical incision; use of appropriate antibiotic and dosing; and discontinuation of prophylactic antibiotic within 24 hours after surgery. The population of study was the orthopedic and neurosurgical cases. Earlier this year, Methodist Dallas was recognized for Benchmark Achievement and Presentation of Methods by the TSPC.

To improve upon previous strong scores, infection control leaders at Methodist Dallas, led by Dr. Shaikh and Virginia Davis, RN, MSN, Methodists vice president for quality services, formed a task force made up of  specialists from several departments, including clinical outcomes, nursing, operating room (OR) and pharmacy. Together, physicians, nurses, researchers and administrators worked to ensure that antibiotics were administered and discontinued based on evidence-based practices to prevent antimicrobial resistance. Key members of the task force included Gong Lee, MD, an anesthesiologist on the Methodist medical staff, and Antonio Arazoza, MD, an orthopedic surgeon on the Methodist medical staff.

It was very rewarding to see people from all parts of the hospital work together on this project, says Kim Bamburg, MEd, RN, clinical specialist for the Methodist Dallas OR. It was such a success because of the cooperation of all those involved, from clinicians to administrators, and because of the leadership of people like Dr. Shaikh and Virginia Davis.

The recognition for Methodist Dallas program was based on several criteria, including sustainability over time, ability to be implemented at other institutions, use of approach that minimizes data collection and entry burden, innovative use of collected data, and improved adherence to recommended practices.

A tremendous amount of work went into this project, says Mishga Moinuddin, MPH, ICP, who helped implement and oversee the program. And the results show that all the hard work, which involved a cooperative team approach, made a difference.

The CDC Foundation award will be officially presented in June by Methodist officials at the 2005 annual APIC conference in Baltimore, Maryland. Moinuddin will present the winning abstract during the conference.

Guided by the founding principles of life, learning, and compassion, Methodist Health System uses some of the latest medical technology and research to bring quality healthcare to individuals and families throughout North Texas.  Methodist Dallas Medical Center, Methodist Charlton Medical Center, and three Methodist Family Health Centers are part of the nonprofit Methodist Health System, which is affiliated by covenant with the North Texas Conference of The United Methodist Church.