October 2018: Hospital infection prevention and appropriate antibiotic prescribing is being proactively addressed by the Lenmed Group.

Ideally, infections should never be acquired during a hospital admission. Worldwide, healthcare acquired infections remain a major risk to patient safety, a risk which is exacerbated by the increasing number of bacteria that are now resistant to antibiotics. As explained by the Director-General of Health, Ms Precious Matsoso, “Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a major global public health crisis. In the case of bacterial infections, decades-long overuse of antibiotics has resulted in a tipping point, where the world finds itself on the brink of a ‘post-antibiotic’ era and we will lose the benefits of these medicines entirely”

The Lenmed Group Chief Medical Officer, Dr Nilesh Patel, says “Because we understand the importance of infection prevention in making our hospitals as safe as possible and after diligently assessing competing products, Lenmed made the decision to implement Bluebird, an organizational tool that has successfully institutionalized the principles outlined by the Ministry of Health at more than 60 hospitals in both the private and public sectors in Southern Africa. We believe that Bluebird will facilitate our multi-disciplinary approach to patient care and help prioritize at-risk patients and improve patient safety. Importantly, Bluebird has been shown to integrate well with our SAP hospital information system and has proven successful across a wide range of healthcare facilities from tertiary referral hospitals to smaller community hospitals.

According to Dr. Darryl Vine, Bluebird is an organizational tool designed from the ground up to incorporate international best practice including the standards published by the American CDC and the Australian ACSQHC and helps optimize patient safety and limit the emergence of resistant pathogens.

A multidisciplinary team (Nurses, Physicians, Microbiologists, Pharmacists and Hospital Managers) is needed for effective infection control and antimicrobial stewardship. Bluebird maximizes the clinical efficiency of this team thus helping a health facility accomplish more. Bluebird’s intuitive interface and advanced training programs facilitate smooth on boarding. Comprehensive, patient information is available on an iPad which can be used at the patient’s bedside and clinicians, including Doctors, have remote access. Because Bluebird is cloud-based, minimal hospital IT resources are required.

Dr Patel emphasizes the importance of the group’s leadership team being able to monitor the entire group’s infection prevention and antibiotic stewardship initiatives in real time and the ability to quickly access the management reports needed to inform both group and regional policies. Championing exceptional patient experiences and clinical outcomes is central to Lenmed’s vision and Clinical Governance tools like Bluebird, enable us to champion exceptional clinical outcomes through:

• A reduction in avoidable infections,
• More appropriate antibiotic use,
• A reduction in resistant bacteria across the group and ultimately leading to
• A decreased average length of hospital stay.

For any further information, please contact the Lenmed Group Marketing & Communications Manager: Michelle Naidoo on +27 (0) 87 087 0610 or michelle.naidoo@lenmed.co.za.