Annual Report 2021
Department of Safety Management, Infection Control and Prevention Office
Keiji Okinaka, Asako Hashimoto, Tatsuhiko Kotabe, Satoshi Saito, Nobuo Mochizuki, Yui Suzuki, Mari Hisano, Go Sato
Introduction
The Office of Infection Control and Prevention was established in October 2016. The objective of our office is to promote hospital infection control to reduce the transmission of communicable diseases among patients, healthcare workers, and visitors. Our office also promotes antimicrobial stewardship. Since 2020, we have remained focused on infection control for COVID-19.
The Team and What We Do
Our missions are:
- Developing infection control policies and in-hospital guidelines
- Managing the surveillance system of healthcare-associated infections and drug-resistant bacteria to prevent outbreaks of infectious diseases
- Maintaining manuals regarding infection control and antimicrobial stewardship
- Inspecting and improving the quality of the hospital environment using ward rounds
- Inspecting and improving compliance with hand hygiene and other infection control measures using ward rounds
- Offering consulting services regarding infection control problems
- Preventing and managing needlestick injuries
- Vaccinating staff with insufficient protective immunity
- Planning the provision of employee education and educational campaigns to promote infection control and antimicrobial stewardship
- Planning conferences among regional hospitals to promote the improvement of infection control in each hospital
- Promoting antimicrobial stewardship
- Inspecting and promoting the proper disposal of medical waste
Research activities
Keiji Okinaka: Presented a randomized controlled trial on pneumococcal vaccine after hematopoietic stem cell transplantation at The third Asian Pneumococcal Symposium.
Future Prospects
We will keep aiming to increase the hand hygiene and isolation precautions compliance rate for safe patient care through appropriate infection control measures in the COVID-19 era as well, and ensure infection control measures to prevent outbreaks of infectious diseases in the hospital. We will also promote antimicrobial stewardship to ensure a low antimicrobial resistance rate and a safe medical environment.