ARMC Recognized for Low Infection Rates

Arrowhead Regional Medical Center (ARMC) has been recognized by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAI) Program as a hospital that exceeds national baselines for four consecutive years from 2015 – 2019.

ARMC sustained this low HAI incidence through achieving low C. difficile infection (CDI) rates. A CDI is a type of life-threatening diarrheal infection that occurs when a patient inadvertently ingests the organism and is treated with antibiotics. Under the leadership of infectious disease specialist Sharon Wang, D.O., ARMC maintained low CDI rates through a team effort involving infection control measures taken by all staff, a judicious use of antibiotics by physicians, thorough cleaning by environmental service workers, lab staff detection, and antimicrobial stewardship (a way to optimize the use of antibiotics).

ARMC staff track and report all HAI daily and work with departments across the hospital to understand how an infection happened and ways to prevent it from happening again.

“I’m extremely proud of our team,” says Dr. Wang. “We are honored to be recognized by the CDPH and will continue to make patient safety a top priority. Our goal is to continue achieving low CDI rates and work to lower other HAI, as well.”

All California hospitals, including ARMC, are on a five-year infection prevention plan. CDPH publishes HAI data annually to provide information about the quality of hospital care and to monitor prevention progress.

For more information about the California Department of Public Health visit https://www.cdph.ca.gov/.