Study: Pediatric hospitals need more infection prevention staff

Infection prevention staff at Boston Children’s Hospital convinced its leadership team to hire more staff by conducting a detailed analysis of the number of dedicated staff necessary for infection prevention, according to an article published in the American Journal of Infection Prevention. Despite an increased number of outpatient procedures, shorter hospital stays and more focus on ambulatory services, conventional approaches to calculating IP staffing are based on the number of inpatient beds at a hospital. The detailed assessment highlighted staffing shortages at Boston Children’s Hospital and described how IP staff spent their time. As a result, the leadership team hired four additional full-time IPs. The authors hope other organizations will use their approach to advocate for critical IP staff. (American Journal of Infection Control news release, 10/17/24)