Completed Studies

Barriers and Facilitators for NHSN Adoption in Nursing Homes

Enrollment of nursing homes into the National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) has been identified as a national priority.

Understanding factors influencing the nursing home decision process to enroll in and maintain reporting to NHSN is an important first step towards promoting effective infection prevention and control efforts, decreasing health care-acquired infections, improving resident quality of life, and decreasing costs.

In this study, we sought to determine the barriers and facilitators to enrolling in the NHSN and reporting multidrug-resistant organism and Clostridioides difficile infections by nursing homes.

This study was conducted by the Columbia University School of Nursing in partnership with the RAND Corporation. It was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (contract #200-2016-91952).

Selected Publications:

Home Health Agencies in the Changing Policy Environment

With this innovative study, we sought to examine how home healthcare agencies (HHAs) responded to the changing policy landscape and identify best practices. By leveraging the infrastructure and interdisciplinary research team established by the NIH-funded InHOME project, the three Aims were to: 1) Explore how HHAs have responded to various quality and value-based purchasing (VBP) initiatives; 2) Conduct a survey to describe HHA Quality Assurance and Performance Improvement (QAPI) programs and identify the types of HHAs that respond to VBP incentives; 3) Identify best practices by examining factors associated with HHA outcomes (e.g., emergency services, hospital admission and readmission rates).

This study was conducted by the Columbia University School of Nursing in partnership with the RAND Corporation. It was funded by the Alliance for Home Health Quality and Innovation.

Selected Publications:

Prevention of Nosocomial Infections & Cost-Effectiveness in Nursing Homes (PNICE-NH) Study

The PNICE-NH study addressed gaps in the current understanding of best practices related to HAI prevention in nursing homes.

The ultimate goal was to generate knowledge that will inform evidence-based decision making for health policy makers, nursing home administrators, clinicians, and infection preventionists.

This study was conducted by the Columbia University School of Nursing, in partnership with the RAND Corporation and the University of Pittsburgh. It was funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) (R01NR013687).

Selected Publications:

Prevention of Nosocomial Infections & Cost Effectiveness Refined (P-NICER) Study

The P-NICER study built upon previous research by our group.

The study aimed to: 1) Describe the phenomena of infection prevention, surveillance, and control in hospitals; 2) Assess the impact of the intensity of infection control processes on device associated and organism-specific HAI rates in adult and pediatric ICUs across the nation; and 3) Determine the impact of state-regulated mandatory reporting on infection control processes and HAI rates.

This study was conducted by the Columbia University School of Nursing, in partnership with the RAND Corporation and New York University. It was funded by the National Institute of Nursing Research (NINR) (R01NR010107).

Selected Publications: