ICE C. diff

Illinois Campaign to Eliminate
Clostridium difficile

Background

The Illinois Campaign to Eliminate Clostridium difficile (ICE C. diff) is a statewide educational initiative that engages Illinois hospitals and long term care facilities in successful strategies to prevent and control C. diff. Building from the 20-hospital Illinois C. diff Prevention Collaborative that ended in 2011, ICE C. diff aims to spread lessons learned from the collaborative and strengthen the ability of Illinois hospitals and long term care facilities in implementing evidence-based strategies to fight C. diff.

The bacterium C. diff can result in deadly diarrhea. As the most important cause of antibiotic associated diarrhea, accounting for 15 to 25% of cases, C. diff infection (CDI) is an important patient safety issue. In Illinois, C. diff hospital discharges more than doubled from 7,082 to 16,262 between 1999 and 2010. Although the numbers for Illinois long term care facilities are not yet tracked, C. diff is recognized as problematic in this setting and may well mirror the burden seen nationally: in the US, there are roughly 263,000 cases of nursing home onset CDI annually compared with 165,000 cases of hospital acquired hospital onset CDI. Recent estimates show that inpatient health care costs for each case of hospital onset CDI is $5,047 to $7,179, a significant expense for the patient and healthcare system.

CDI is preventable. The two groups of hospitals that participated in the Illinois C. diff Prevention Collaborative reduced their CDI rates by 15% and 26% during their participation period. ICE C. diff currently targets quality improvement, infection prevention, nursing, environmental services, and laboratory staff in hospitals and long term care facilities, but participation in campaign activities is not limited to these groups. Campaign activities include webinars (March to September 2012), regional workshops (summer 2012), and development of this C. diff resource website. Through collaboration within and across health facilities and organizations, we can prevent C. diff infections in Illinois.

ICE C. diff Objectives

• Disseminate evidence-based practices for CDI prevention and control to Illinois hospitals and long term care facilities.
• Share lessons learned and best practices from the Illinois C. diff Prevention Collaborative.
• Facilitate and increase health facility engagement in efforts to prevent CDI.
• Reduce rates of facility associated CDI in Illinois.

Funding

ICE C. diff is funded through an Affordable Care Act grant from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.