AHRQ recently issued two Special Emphasis Notices announcing AHRQ’s interest in funding grants on preventing and reducing healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). The Department has published the “National Action Plan to Prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections, which is now being updated and will be available in early 2011.
In FY 2011, AHRQ intends to build on the HAI projects funded in 2009 and 2010 by supporting research and demonstration projects related to ways to prevent and more effectively manage HAIs and promote the wide scale adoption of evidence-based approaches in all settings.
Grants in FY 2011 will be funded to:
• To determine the clinical efficacy, effectiveness, and cost-effectiveness of interventions to prevent HAIs
• Develop, demonstrate, and implement strategies to prevent and manage HAIs
• Characterize and assess relevant epidemiological aspects of HAIs, such as patient risk factors, clinical presentation, and sources of antibiotic-resistant organisms involved in developing HAIs
A research focus to receive additional emphasis in FY 2011 is HAIs in ambulatory care. Additionally, AHRQ is interested in developing, evaluating and demonstrating linkages between the various setting of care as in hospitals, ambulatory settings, and long-term care facilities to improve the prevention, management and tracking of HAIs.
Go to http://grants.nih.gov/grants/guide/notice-files/NOT-HS-11-002.html, for more information on notice (NOT-HS-11-002) issued by AHRQ and released in November. For more information, contact James Cleeman M.D., Center for Quality Improvement and Patient Safety at James.cleeman@ahrq.hhs.gov.
