--University of Utah Health Sciences Center Public Affairs Office 

May 8, 2006 – A team of Utah-based investigators has been selected to join the Prevention Epicenter grant program sponsored by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).  The purpose of this program is to develop and test innovative approaches to reduce infections in health-care settings.  The new “Utah Epicenter,” called the Intermountain Center of Excellence for Infection Prevention Strategies (INTERCEPT), represents collaboration between the University of Utah and three integrated health-care delivery systems: University Health Care, Intermountain Healthcare, and the VA Salt Lake City Health Care System.  INTERCEPT is one of only five national sites funded through this program.

“This grant is an exemplary integration of academia and practice,” said Matthew H. Samore, M.D., the Utah principal investigator, professor of internal medicine, and chief of clinical epidemiology at the U of U School of Medicine and Salt Lake City VA Medical Center. “But we’re not just measuring the problem; we’re doing something about it.”

Intermountain Healthcare will initially implement and test the program at LDS Hospital and Primary Children’s Medical Center before rolling out the study at other Intermountain hospitals.

R. Scott Evans, Ph.D., a senior medical informaticist at Intermountain Healthcare’s LDS Hospital and professor of biomedical informatics at the University medical school, is the Utah co-principal investigator.  Evan notes, “We have been using computerized methods to improve infection surveillance and infection control practice for more than 20 years.  This grant will allow us to extend our previous work in highly innovative ways.” 

Health care associated infections cause an estimated 2 million infections and 90,000 deaths annually in the United States.  In recent years, health care consumer groups have mobilized increased political attention to this problem.  The spread of drug-resistant bacteria because of overuse of antibiotics and patient-to-patient transmission is a major public health threat, according to Samore.

To identify people at high risk for drug-resistant bacteria, the researchers will establish a computer-flagging system to alert hospitals when those patients are admitted; this will include identifying patients who carry these types of bacteria when they enter the hospital.  The researchers will electronically track the use of urinary catheters as a way to let physicians and nurses know when patients no longer need them.  Urinary tract infections acquired from catheters are a major source of drug-resistant bacteria, and reducing the prolonged use of the devices can help contain the spread of these bacteria.