New veterinary infection prevention and control tool provides clinical guidance and professional development opportunities
Just in time for U.S. Antibiotic Awareness Week, the New York City Health Department’s Antimicrobial Resistance Unit has released a veterinary version of an infection prevention and control (IPC) clinical decision support tool that is widely utilized around the globe in human medicine. The NYC Health – Veterinary Infection Prevention and Control (IPC) module, a tool developed by the NYC Health Department and the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) Veterinary Medicine IPC Council, was created to collate peer-reviewed literature, clinical and IPC guidance, and public health resources so that they are readily accessible for veterinary professionals.
Karen Alroy, DVM, MPH, DACVPM, One Health Lead for the NYC Antimicrobial Resistance Unit, said that this new tool, commonly referred to as the veterinary Firstline IPC tool because it is hosted on the Firstline health technology online platform, was created with the goal of improving access to infection prevention and control guidance for veterinary professionals to reduce the spread of antibiotic-resistant bacteria to both people and pets.
“Certain types of antibiotic-resistant bacteria are particularly challenging since animals can be colonized with these organisms yet don’t necessarily show any clinical signs,” she said. “When there are gaps in veterinary infection prevention and control, colonized animals can silently spread antibiotic-resistant bacteria to people and pets.”
Accessing the tool
The veterinary Firstline IPC tool is free to access and available as both a web-based tool and a mobile app. It provides a veterinary version of some of the IPC resources for human healthcare providers available through Firstline in collaboration with organizations including the World Health Organization.
Alroy explained that the Firstline platform hosts clinical decision modules for healthcare systems, hospitals, and health departments all over the world. “Many Firstline modules focus on antimicrobial stewardship including information on infection prevention or antimicrobial prescribing, with the ultimate goal to preserve the efficacy of antibiotics and protect human and animal health,” she said.
While the veterinary Firstline IPC tool was developed by the NYC Health Department and the advisories are specific to the New York City metropolitan area, the tool is available to users throughout the United States and around the world.
The intended audience is veterinary professionals, Alroy noted, and the information contained in the tool may not be easily understandable for lay audiences since it was not designed with them in mind.
2022 AAFP/AAHA Antimicrobial Stewardship Guidelines
If you are looking for ways to be more responsible with your antimicrobial use, these guidelines provide evidence-based recommendations and actionable advice to get you started. The guidelines include information about the appropriate use of diagnostics, resources for optimizing therapeutic efficiency, and client education tips to help pet owners understand how to best treat their pet while reducing the prevalence of future antibiotic resistance.
Using the tool
The veterinary IPC tool is divided into four sections: Veterinary IPC Principles, Applied IPC for Veterinary Practice, IPC by Disease and Agent, and NYC Veterinary Health Alerts and Advisories, all tailored for use in small animal veterinary practices.
Alroy anticipates that the tool can help veterinary teams that hospitalize patients with an infectious disease to prevent the spread of infection throughout the hospital. Team members can look up specific infectious organisms and find information about the disease etiology, zoonotic risk, whether the disease is reportable, and guidance on the appropriate use of personal protective equipment (PPE), isolation, cleaning, and disinfection.
Veterinary professionals practicing in the New York City area can also benefit from regular updates on infectious disease outbreaks in the area that can help them make decisions in the treatment of patients in real time.
Other potential uses include the development of protocols for routine hospital hygiene and educating team members on antimicrobial stewardship. Team members can brush up on general principles of hand hygiene, the use of PPE, the hierarchy of controls for IPC safety measures, and even the risks presented by the feeding of raw diets to pets.
2018 AAHA Infection Control, Prevention, and Biosecurity Guidelines
Veterinary professionals have to think about infectious diseases on a daily basis, both from the standpoint of disease prevention, but also treating patients who become infected. Part of that work also includes preventing the spread of infectious disease, both inside and outside the veterinary clinical setting. These guidelines provide valuable resources for practices that want to establish or improve their infection control, prevention, and biosecurity protocols, train their staff, and educate their clients on ways to reduce the risk of infectious disease spread.
Additional applications and opportunities for engagement
The veterinary Firstline IPC tool was designed with small animal veterinary practices in mind, but Alroy anticipates that it will be applicable in a variety of other spaces. “Veterinary IPC encompasses all of the activities that veterinary professionals do to prevent the spread of harmful germs in veterinary facilities,” she said. This can include surveillance, policy creation, and education of future veterinary professionals.
Alroy also hopes this tool will foster continued communication between human and animal healthcare professionals to support successful public health interventions. “The health of people, animals, and their shared environment is deeply interconnected,” she said. “We know that harmful microbes can be shared between people and pets.”
She recommends that any veterinary professionals who have a strong interest in veterinary IPC not only explore the capabilities of this new tool, but that they consider joining the APIC Veterinary Medicine IPC Council.
Further reading:
New York City Health Department Launches Digital Tool to Help Veterinary Professionals Prevent Infections in Animals and People
Photo credit: Nanci Santos/iStock via Getty Images
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