Clostridium Difficile: Reducing Infections Using an Evidence-Based Practice Initiative

Each year, about 500,000 Americans develop a Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection, with 29,000 of these infections resulting in death within 30 days of diagnosis (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention [CDC], 2015). The CDC (2015) report that C. difficile infections are preventable. However, in the hospital setting, even with isolation precautions, high-touch surfaces around the patient can transmit bacteria to him or her (Louh et al., 2017; Sattar & Maillard, 2013).