FRIDAY, May 26, 2023 (HealthDay News) — Allowing bedside nurses to independently order stool testing for Clostridioides difficile (C. difficile) significantly decreases the amount of time to receive test results versus requiring physician approval, according to a study published online May 10 in the American Journal of Infection Control.
Ashley Bartlett, M.D., from the Fargo Veterans Affairs Healthcare System in North Dakota, and colleagues evaluated the impact of a policy that allowed bedside nurses to order C. difficile testing on the time to obtain test results and initiate treatment. The analysis included results from a single Veterans Affairs system site 44 months prior to and 59 months after the change in policy.
The researchers found that the difference in time to obtain the result before and after the policy change was statistically significant. Additionally, the difference in time to obtain the result significantly differed by ordering provider type, with nurses significantly associated with faster test results compared with physicians (odds ratio, 1.72). There was no significant difference observed in time to initiate treatment (1.7 hours before and after policy change).
People are also reading…
“Given the implications of C. difficile infection on both a hospital and patient level, incentives exist for improving approaches to the prevention and spread of this infection in the clinical environment,” Bartlett in a statement. “Our findings suggest that allowing bedside nurses with appropriate training to order C. diff testing based on patient symptomology could be a valid strategy to help health care systems achieve this goal.”
For all the latest Health News Click Here
For the latest news and updates, follow us on Google News.
Denial of responsibility! NewsBit.us is an automatic aggregator around the global media. All the content are available free on Internet. We have just arranged it in one platform for educational purpose only. In each content, the hyperlink to the primary source is specified. All trademarks belong to their rightful owners, all materials to their authors. If you are the owner of the content and do not want us to publish your materials on our website, please contact us by email – [email protected]. The content will be deleted within 24 hours.
