More than 1 million patients receive cancer treatment in an outpatient oncology clinic each year. Unfortunately, infections from both community and healthcare settings remain a key reason for hospitalization and death among cancer patients receiving chemotherapy. In an effort to help shield this at-risk patient population, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is introducing a new program that includes tools to assist both clinicians and patients in the prevention of infections.
“These new resources help patients take an active role in protecting themselves against infection and give doctors, nurses, and other clinicians necessary tools to better prevent infection,” said CDC Director Thomas Frieden, MD, MPH.
CDC’s Preventing Infections in Cancer Patients program resources include an interactive Web site (www.preventcancerinfections.org) for cancer patients and caregivers and a basic infection control and prevention plan for use by outpatient oncology settings.
A questionnaire on the new Web site, “3 Steps Toward Preventing Infections During Cancer Treatment,” is designed to help cancer patients understand how to prevent infections base on their risk for developing neutropenia. After answering a few questions about their risk factors, cancer patients receive information about how to prepare, prevent, and protect themselves from developing an infection during treatment.
In the Basic Infection Control and Prevention Plan for Outpatient Oncology Settings, healthcare providers and facility administrators will find important policies and procedures to help make certain the outpatient facility meets or exceeds expectations for patient safety, as outlined in the CDC Guide to Infection Prevention in Outpatient Settings.
“Outpatient oncology facilities’ attention to infection prevention varies greatly,” said Alice Guh, MD, co-lead of the initiative at CDC. “Repeated outbreaks resulting from lapses in basic infection prevention practices, such as syringe reuse, have put patients at risk. In some of these cases, the implicated clinic did not have written infection control policies and procedures or regular access to infection prevention expertise.”
Facilities may implement the Basic Infection Control and Prevention Plan for Outpatient Oncology Settings in one of the following ways:
- Facilities that presently operate under a plan should ensure that current policies and procedures include the essentials described in this tool
- This resource should be used as a tool to draft and implement policies and procedures for any facility lacking a plan
- Facilities may execute this plan as written or adapt it with facility-specific information
Source: CDC.