Cost-Benefit Analysis of Allowing Additional Time in Cleaning Hospital Contact Precautions Rooms.

CROSS infection prevention; VANCOMYCIN resistance; CLINICAL trials; EVALUATION of human services programs; TIME; METHICILLIN-resistant staphylococcus aureus; COST control; DISEASE incidence; INTERVIEWING; MEDICAL protocols; HUMAN services programs; STAPHYLOCOCCAL diseases; CONCEPTUAL structures; URBAN hospitals; ENTEROCOCCUS; HOSPITAL wards; COST effectiveness; DESCRIPTIVE statistics; STERILIZATION (Disinfection); STATISTICAL models; HOSPITAL housekeeping

Increasing cleaning time may reduce hospital-acquired transmission of Clostridioides difficile, methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), and vancomycin-resistant enterococcus (VRE). We constructed a cost-benefit model to estimate the impact of implementing an enhanced cleaning protocol, allowing hospital housekeepers an additional 15 minutes to terminally clean contact precautions rooms. The enhanced cleaning protocol saved the hospital $758 per terminally-cleaned room when accounting for only C. difficile. Scaling up to a hospital with 100 cases of C. difficile/year, and the US annual C. difficile incidence, cost savings were $75,832/year and $169.8 million/year, respectively. These results may inform infection control strategic decision-making and resource allocation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]