A study of hospitalized patients with diarrhea found that collecting stool samples and testing all of them identified almost 30% more cases of C. diff than the standard of care.

A multi-disciplinary approach led to improved diagnostic stewardship to identify true CDI cases. This in turn, reduced the number of reported HO-CDIs, and resulted in potentially more than $1,080,000 in patient care savings.

Two-step testing is associated with decreased reported incidence of HO-CDI, likely by improving diagnostic specificity. The parallel decrease in C. difficile specific antibiotic use offers indirect reassurance against under-diagnosis of C. difficile infections still requiring treatment by clinician …

Two-step testing is associated with decreased reported incidence of HO-CDI, likely by improving diagnostic specificity. The parallel decrease in C. difficile specific antibiotic use offers indirect reassurance against under-diagnosis of C. difficile infections still requiring treatment by clinician …

Is the Healthcare Facility Level Sufficient for Assessing the Impact of Two-Step Clostridioides difficile Testing?

Implementation of a standardized order set, focused on pre-defined quality indicators for hospitalized patients with severe UC, was associated with meaningful improvements to most quality indicators defined by the Toronto Consensus Statements.

The most frequent mutations found in the analyzed genomes was fluoroquinolone-associated mutations such as gyrA and there were 24 different sequence types were identified in the 130 isolates.

Removal of urinalysis and urine culture from preoperative checklists for cardiac surgery led to a statistically significant decrease in testing without an increase in SSIs, CLABSIs, CAUTIs, or CDI. Challenges identified included persistence of checklists in templated order sets in the electronic hea …

An intervention requiring that infectious diseases approve testing for Clostridioides difficile infection increased the appropriateness of testing for hospital-onset C. difficile and lowered the positive testing rate by more than 50%.

Researchers sought to determine a method of testing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients for Clostridioides difficile as a cause of diarrhea.

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is a major healthcare-associated infection that leads to a significant health economic burden in Japan. Using a decision tree model, we evaluated the budget impact of adopting a one-step nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) alone pathway compared to …

Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) is a major healthcare-associated infection that leads to a significant health economic burden in Japan. Using a decision tree model, we evaluated the budget impact of adopting a one-step nucleic acid amplification test (NAAT) alone pathway compared to …

A new study published today in the American Journal of Infection Control suggests that allowing bedside nurses to independently order testing for C. difficile significantly decreased the amount of time to receive test results as compared to requiring physician approval.

Allowing nurses to order Clostridioides difficile testing without a physician's approval could help hospitals lower infection rates, a new study suggests.

Researchers sought to determine a method of testing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation recipients for Clostridium difficile as a cause of diarrhea.

Hospital policies allowing nurses to independently initiate testing for the bacterium C. difficile could reduce infection spread and associated morbidity.

Findings suggest policy change expedites availability of test results, and could help decrease clinical and economic burden of C. difficile infections.

An infectious disease-led C. difficile testing approval process was feasible and associated with a 50% decrease in HO-CDI rates, due to enforcement of appropriate testing.

Introduction. Environmental surveillance for Clostridioides difficile is challenging. There are no internationally agreed recommendations on which method should be used when environmental surveillance is undertaken. Aim. To compare the detection of C. difficile by RT-PCR to culture-based methods and to determine which is more sensitive and specific in the clinical environment. Methods. Forty-four near-patient areas of C. difficile -positive patients were sampled using contact plates and moistened flocked swabs. Results. Detection using moistened flocked swabs followed by RT-PCR or culture detected more C. difficile than contact plates. The sensitivity and specificity of a RT-PCR assay for tcdB compared to the culture methods was 76 and 91 %, respectively. Conclusion. Despite the lower sensitivity and specificity, RT-PCR could potentially offer a more rapid and practical alternative.

Joseph Reilly, BS, PharmD, BCGP; Candace Cotto, RN; and Andrew Skinner, MD, review C. difficile infection (CDI), its risk factors, symptoms, and quality of life for the patient.

A stringent order-approval process reduced clinically nonindicated testing for C. difficile but did not significantly decrease HAIs.

A stringent order-approval process reduced clinically nonindicated testing for C. difficile but did not significantly decrease HAIs.

Use of an algorithm defining criteria for C. difficile testing, diagnosis, and treatment was associated with significantly decreased CDI diagnoses on a HSCT inpatient unit without apparent adverse effects.

Although Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI) incidence is high in the United States, standard-of-care (SOC) stool collection and testing practices might result in incidence overestimation or underestimation. We conducted diarrhea surveillance among inpatients 50 years of age in Louisville, …

A-two-step-algorithm-for-Clostridioides-difficile-infection-CDI-testing-may-reduce-unnecessary-treatment-and-improve-detection-according-to-data-presented-at

Excellent presentation @kerrieanndavies @ESCMID #ECCMID23 #ECCMID2023 lactoferrin may help tease out the significance of GDH positive /EIA negative #cdiff samples - 40min turn around - quantitative version pic.twitter.com/6J05b12NEN— Prof. Fidelma Fitzpatrick (@FfitzP) April 18, 2023