Clostridium Difficile Colitis Prevention and Management

An online continuing education course for nurses, medical health care professionals, and other interested individuals.

Clostridium difficile is an inimitable organism that normally lives in the gut. When an antibiotic is taken to treat an infection, helpful or normal bacteria are destroyed, causing an overgrowth of the C. difficile bacteria. Clostridium difficile localizes to the large bowel, where it manifests as diarrhea and colitis. The symptoms of Clostridium difficile colitis and diarrhea can be mild or life-threatening.

Clostridium difficile is the leading cause of infectious diarrhea in hospitals and has become, along with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, one of the most common causes of health care-associated infections.The incidence and severity of C. difficile infection (CDI) have increased dramatically since 2000, and CDI is estimated to cause as many as 20,000 deaths and to cost as much as $3.2 billion per year in US acute care facilities alone. CDI outbreaks have become more common, and infection control-based CDI prevention efforts appear to be less effective than in the past.

How does your facility prevent patients from getting a CDI during their stay? In this CNE course you will learn the characteristics and transmission of CDI, best practices for monitoring these infections, and the recommended practices for Clostridium difficile prevention and control.

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