Infection control crucial

THE head of the Infection Control Department at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH), Dr. Corey Forde believes that infection prevention control across the Caribbean needs to be seen as a mission critical issue for hospital systems.

Speaking to members of the media recently, Dr. Forde said while infections and outbreaks are not uncommon in any modern hospital across the world, if hospitals do not have good infection control programmes there will be a spread of organisms, which can be resistant, across the region, leading to more spending in the healthcare system.

“It is therefore important, as Barbados has done and this hospital has done, to start antimicrobial stewardship programmes. We have demonstrated in Barbados the benefits of antimicrobial stewardship programme.

“We have shown a decrease in the amount of infections, certainly with these multi-drug resistant organisms in this hospital. We will continue to do that, but we will also require the continuous support of administration in the hospital in support of the Infection Control Department…,” Dr. Forde said.
Through collaboration with the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), teams from St. Lucia, St. Vincent, St. Kitts, and Antigua, among others, have been trained in infection control, at the QEH.

The head of department reminded that patients from many Caribbean countries come to Barbados for treatment at the QEH, and indicated that if they have multi-drug resistant organisms “and we bring them into our system, then they become our problem”.

“It is therefore important that we train them and that we are involved in their processes, and we work with them to strengthen their healthcare systems and that in turn will make our system safe.

“I think QEH, and Barbados as a whole, needs to be proud of this particular programme and we will continue to work with PAHO to ensure and strengthen infection prevention control issues across the region,” Dr. Forde said. (AH)