Documentation of acute change in mental status in nursing homes highlights opportunity to augment infection surveillance criteria

Austin R Penna; Christina L Sancken; Nimalie D Stone; Taniece R Eure; Wendy Bamberg; Grant Barney; Devra Barter; Stacy Carswell; Paula Clogher; Ghinwa Dumyati; Christina B Felsen; Linda Frank; Deborah Godine; Helen Johnston; Marion A Kainer; Linda Li; Ruth Lynfield; J P Mahoehney; Joelle Nadle; Rebecca Pierce; Susan M Ray; Sarah Shrum Davis; Marla Sievers; Lucy E Wilson; Alexia Y Zhang; Shelley S Magill; Nicola D Thompson

doi:10.1017/ice.2020.77

Documentation of acute change in mental status in nursing homes highlights opportunity to augment infection surveillance criteria

Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2020 Jul;41(7):848-850. doi: 10.1017/ice.2020.77. Epub 2020 Apr 28.

Authors

Austin R Penna¹, Christina L Sancken¹, Nimalie D Stone¹, Taniece R Eure¹, Wendy Bamberg², Grant Barney³, Devra Barter², Stacy Carswell⁴, Paula Clogher⁵, Ghinwa Dumyati^{3

6}, Christina B Felsen^{3

6}, Linda Frank⁷, Deborah Godine⁷, Helen Johnston², Marion A Kainer⁸, Linda Li⁹, Ruth Lynfield¹⁰, J P Mahoehney¹⁰, Joelle Nadle⁷, Rebecca Pierce¹¹, Susan M Ray^{4

12}, Sarah Shrum Davis¹³, Marla Sievers¹³, Lucy E Wilson⁹, Alexia Y Zhang¹¹, Shelley S Magill¹, Nicola D Thompson¹

Affiliations

¹ Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Atlanta, Georgia.
² Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment, Denver, Colorado.
³ New York Emerging Infections Program, Rochester, New York.
⁴ Georgia Emerging Infections Program, Atlanta, Georgia.
⁵ Connecticut Emerging Infections Program and the Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut.
⁶ University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, New York.
⁷ California Emerging Infections Program, Oakland, California.
⁸ Tennessee Department of Health, Nashville, Tennessee.
⁹ Maryland Department of Health, Baltimore, Maryland.
¹⁰ Minnesota Department of Health, St Paul, Minnesota.
¹¹ Oregon Health Authority, Portland, Oregon.
¹² Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia.
¹³ New Mexico Department of Health, Santa Fe, New Mexico.

Abstract

Acute change in mental status (ACMS), defined by the Confusion Assessment Method, is used to identify infections in nursing home residents. A medical record review revealed that none of 15,276 residents had an ACMS documented. Using the revised McGeer criteria with a possible ACMS definition, we identified 296 residents and 21 additional infections. The use of a possible ACMS definition should be considered for retrospective nursing home infection surveillance.

Publication types

Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

MeSH terms

Documentation
Humans
Infections / complications
Infections / diagnosis*
Mental Disorders / diagnosis*
Mental Disorders / etiology
Nursing Care*
Nursing Homes*
Retrospective Studies

Grants and funding

CC999999/ImCDC/Intramural CDC HHS/United States