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Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs)

Related Organizations, Systems & Websites

Across the State

• Alliant Quality - Alliant Quality is the Quality Innovation Network-Quality Improvement Organization (QIN-QIO) for Georgia and North Carolina.
• APIC - NC – North Carolina chapter of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. Through education, research, consultation, collaboration, public policy, practice guidance and credentialing, APIC aims to improve health and patient safety by reducing risks of infection and other adverse outcomes.
• Center for Antimicrobial Utilization, Stewardship, and Epidemiology (CAUSE) - The antimicrobial stewardship program of Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center studies the use of and resistance to antimicrobial agents in order to improve patient care and reduce the proportion of antimicrobial-resistant organisms in the hospital and community.
• Duke Infection Control Outreach Network (DICON) - A collaboration between Duke University School of Medicine and a number of community hospitals, DICON is focused on improving infection control programs by compiling data on HAIs at member hospitals, identifying trends and areas for improvement, and providing ongoing education and leadership to community providers. DICON exists to help hospitals with limited resources develop state-of-the-art infection control programs – and to give institutions with more sophisticated programs access to comparative statistics to support their infection control efforts.
• N.C. Department of Health and Human Services - North Carolina's primary agency for communicable disease control, regulation, inspection, licensing, emergency response, education and other programs to measure, protect and improve the health of the state's residents. The agency's principal health-related divisions include Public Health; Health Service Regulation; Medical Assistance (Medicaid); Rural Health and Community Care; and Mental Health, Developmental Disabilities and Substance Abuse Services. The state HAI prevention program is administered by the Division of Public Health, Epidemiology Section, Communicable Disease Branch.
• N.C. DETECT – N.C. Disease Event Tracking and Epidemiologic Collection Tool. N.C. DETECT was created by N.C. DPH in 2004 in collaboration with the UNC Department of Emergency Medicine to address the need for early event detection and timely public health surveillance in North Carolina. Authorized users are able to view data from emergency departments (via NCHESS), the Carolinas Poison Center, and the Pre-hospital Medical Information System (PreMIS), as well as pilot data from the NCSU College of Veterinary Medicine Laboratories and select urgent care centers.
• NC EDSS - The North Carolina Electronic Disease Surveillance System is a component of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) initiative to move states to web-based health surveillance and reporting systems. NC EDSS provides a single, secure, integrated system and set of procedures for all communicable disease and vaccine-preventable disease reporting.
• N.C. HAI Advisory Group - Established by the N.C. Joint Committee for Hospital Infection Control, this group consists of stakeholders from state and local government, infection control and healthcare quality organizations, laboratories, academic centers, regulatory agencies, and consumer advocates. The primary responsibilities of the HAI Advisory Group are to direct the establishment of the State Plan and to serve as consultants to DPH during rollout of HAI activities. N.C. HAI Advisory Group member list (PDF, 113 KB)
• NCHESS – N.C. Hospital Emergency Surveillance System. The first fully automated statewide hospital emergency department surveillance system in the U.S., NCHESS transmits real-time emergency department visit data to the N.C. DETECT system, enabling the Division of Public Health to see quickly any unusual clinical information or trends that could point to a disease outbreak and take the appropriate response. NCHESS was developed in a partnership between the N.C. Division of Public Health; the N.C. Hospital Association; the University of North Carolina School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine; and all North Carolina hospitals with emergency departments.
• North Carolina Healthcare Association (NCHA) – Established in 1918, NCHA promotes improved delivery of quality healthcare in North Carolina through leadership, advocacy, information, and education of its member hospitals. NCHA founded the N.C. Quality Center (formerly N.C. Center for Hospital Quality and Patient Safety) and partnered with N.C. DPH and UNC School of Medicine to develop the N.C. Hospital Emergency Surveillance System (NCHESS).
• N.C. Local Health Departments by County
• N.C. System for Hospital Infection Measurement (N.C. SHIM) – A voluntary hospital reporting system developed by the N.C. Center for Hospital Quality and Patient Safety to help hospitals eliminate preventable hospital-acquired infections.
• One and Only Campaign - North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services has joined the Safe Injection Practices Coalition (SIPC) One and Only Campaign to raise awareness among patients and healthcare providers about safe injection practices.
• Perinatal Quality Collaborative of North Carolina (PQCNC) – A community of organizations, agencies and individuals committed to improving the health and health care of women of childbearing age and infants by combining the expertise of families and front line health care providers with quality improvement science. PQCNC leads state and national initiatives to reduce perinatal catheter-associated bloodstream infections.

At the National Level

• AHRQ – Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality
• ARRA – The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) of 2009 funds infrastructure development and enhancement programs across the country. North Carolina's statewide HAI Prevention Program is one of many health-related programs established with ARRA funds.
• Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. (APIC) - A voluntary membership organization representing members in this profession.
• Baldrige National Quality Program - A national program with rigorous standards that recognizes organizations achieving excellence in seven key aspects of providing outstanding quality products or services.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) - The nation's foremost agency that serves to support and advance public health. It provides disease surveillance, reference laboratory testing, field investigation and educational service expertise throughout the United States and abroad. See especially, Healthcare-Associated Infections.
• Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) - The federal agency that runs the national health insurance programs Medicare and Medicaid.
• Certification Board of Infection Control and Epidemiology, Inc. - An independent testing board that certifies infection prevention professionals through a formal written examination.
• DHHS, U.S. – The federal Department of Health and Human Services.
• Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) - An expert panel in a specific field who advise the CDC on matters of healthcare associated infection, surveillance, control and prevention.
• Institute for Healthcare Improvement (IHI) – An independent not-for profit-organization specializing in training programs and activities to help health care providers and leaders to innovate and improve health care and health care delivery systems.
• International Organization for Standardization - An organization that accredits hospitals and other businesses based on their meeting published standards.
• The Joint Commission - An independent, not-for-profit organization, the Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care. It evaluates and accredits more than 18,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. 
• National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) - A voluntary, secure computer system run by CDC for healthcare facilities to share information about their healthcare-associated infection rates.
• National Quality Forum (NQF) – A nonprofit organization that works to improve the quality of American healthcare by building consensus on national priorities and goals for performance improvement and working in partnership to achieve them; endorsing national consensus standards for measuring and publicly reporting on performance; and promoting the attainment of national goals through education and outreach programs.
• Safe Injection Practices Coalition (SIPC) - A partnership of healthcare-related organizations that was formed to promote safe injection practices in all U.S. healthcare settings. SIPC's One and Only Campaign promotes safe injection practices to healthcare providers and patients.
• SCIP – Surgical Care Improvement Project (established by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services [CMS])
• Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) - A voluntary membership organization representing members of this profession who have a medical degree or a graduate degree related to epidemiology.