St. Luke’s Medical Center Chosen for Nationwide Infection Prevention Study

St. Luke’s Medical Center has been chosen as one of 20 hospitals nationwide to participate in a major multi-center, randomized trial in infection prevention. The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), The Joint Commission and a research team including Yale New Haven Health and the University of Maryland School of Medicine lead the study.
The Benefits of Universal Glove and Gowning (BUGG) study aims to determine whether using gowns and gloves for all patient contacts (instead of only for patients in contact isolation for known resistant bacteria) decreases the acquisition of antibiotic-resistant bacteria and healthcare-associated infections.

The Special Care Unit (SCU) at St. Luke’s Medical Center is an intensive care unit (ICU) and is specially staffed and equipped to provide intensive care to critically ill or injured patients. The SCU at St. Luke’s was chosen as an intervention site for the study through a randomized methodology. Starting on Wednesday, Jan.  4, 2012, the SCU will begin using the universal  glove and gowning protocol – meaning everyone who enters a patient room on the SCU will put on gloves and gowns upon room entry and remove the gloves and gowns prior to exiting the room.

“We are honored to be the only Arizona hospital chosen to participate alongside prestigious academic centers and major medical centers such as Johns Hopkins Medicine and Henry Ford Health System,” said Syed Shahyrar, M.D., FCCP, FAASM, vice-chief of the medical staff and principal investigator for the study at St. Luke’s Medical Center. “The universal glove and gowning protocol will function in tandem with the strong infection prevention measures the team at St. Luke’s has already implemented.”

Healthcare-associated infections account for an estimated 1.7 million infections and 99,000 associated deaths annually. Antibiotic resistance is associated with considerable morbidity, mortality and costs among hospitalized patients. It is estimated that the cost of antibiotic resistance in the United States is greater than $4 billion per year. The intensive care unit (ICU) is the highest risk environment for healthcare-associated infections and acquisition of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The universal glove and gowning protocol is simple and potentially works against all infections and prevents the transmission of antibiotic-resistant bacteria.