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:

• Nursing home adoption of the National Healthcare Safety Network Long-term Care Facility Component
  Dick, Andrew W., et al. American journal of infection control 47.1 (2019): 59-64.
• The expansion of National Healthcare Safety Network enrollment and reporting in nursing homes: Lessons learned from a national qualitative study
  Stone, Patricia W., et al. American journal of infection control 47.6 (2019): 615-622.

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:

• The Effects of Home Health Value-Based Purchasing on Home Health Care Quality in For-Profit and Nonprofit Agencies: A Comparative Interrupted Time-Series Analysis, 2012–2018
  Perera, U.G.E., et al. Medical Care Research & Review (2021): Advance online publication.
• Measuring Quality in Home Health Care
  Dick, Andrew W., et al. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 67.9 (2019):1859-1865.

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:

• Infection prevention and control programs in US nursing homes: results of a national survey
  Herzig, Carolyn TA, et al. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association 17.1 (2016): 85-88.
• Understanding infection prevention and control in nursing homes: A qualitative study
  Stone, Patricia W., et al. Geriatric Nursing 36.4 (2015): 267-272.
• Infection trends in US nursing homes, 2006-2013
  Herzig, Carolyn TA, et al. Journal of the American Medical Directors Association 18.7 (2017): 635-e9.
• Nursing homes in states with infection control training or infection reporting have reduced infection control deficiency citations
  Cohen, Catherine C., et al. Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology 36.12 (2015): 1475-1476. 
• Isolation Precautions Use for Multidrug‐Resistant Organism Infection in Nursing Homes
  Cohen, Catherine C., Andrew Dick, and Patricia W. Stone. Journal of the American Geriatrics Society 65.3 (2017): 483-489.

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:

• Central line bundle implementation in US intensive care units and impact on bloodstream infections
  Furuya, E. Yoko, et al. PloSOne 6.1 (2011): e15452.
• Staffing and structure of infection prevention and control programs
  Stone, Patricia W., et al. American journal of infection control 37.5 (2009): 351-357.
• Comparisons of health care–associated infections identification using two mechanisms for public reporting
  Stone, Patricia W., et al. American journal of infection control 35.3 (2007): 145-149.
• State of infection prevention in US hospitals enrolled in the National Health and Safety Network
  Stone, Patricia W., et al. American journal of infection control 42.2 (2014): 94-99.
• Adoption of policies to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infections in United States intensive care units
  Conway, Laurie J., et al. American journal of infection control 40.8 (2012): 705-710.