The Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) leads CDC’s work to combat antibiotic resistance, prevent healthcare-associated infections, detect and respond to outbreaks in healthcare settings, and provide actionable data to improve patient safety and care delivery. Below are some helpful resources and reports related to these issues:

• New Adult Sepsis Surveillance Toolkit: CDC’s Hospital Toolkit for Adult Sepsis Surveillance, provides healthcare facilities with tools to assess adult sepsis incidence and monitor progress in their facilities. With the toolkit, healthcare professionals can track facility-level sepsis incidence, which is useful for understanding the effectiveness of local sepsis prevention, early recognition, and treatment programs.
• Risks of medical tourism: In the fall of 2018, CDC received 31 reports of VIM-CRPA through the Antibiotic Resistance Laboratory Network. Six of these cases were U.S. patients who recently had invasive medical procedures in Mexico. To identify additional cases, CDC worked with state partners to issue notifications through the Emerging Infections Network and to medical professional societies. This investigation highlights the potential risk for acquiring serious infections when receiving healthcare abroad that can then spread within U.S. healthcare facilities. This report provides additional details of the investigation and key points of information for people considering medical care abroad to help protect themselves.
• Infection Prevention and Control in the Ebola outbreak: With the current Ebola outbreak in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, DHQP is encouraging healthcare facilities to remain aware of the possibility of imported cases of viral hemorrhagic fevers or other infections in returning travelers. U.S. healthcare facilities are reminded to review their infection prevention and control processes to safely identify and manage patients with communicable infections. For current information about this outbreak, including the most up-to-date number of cases, see WHO’s Ebola situation reports: Democratic Republic of the Congo.
• NTM INFeCT Registry: In response to the 2016 alert to U.S. healthcare facilities, CDC and the University of Iowa recently released a U.S. registry for patients infected with nontuberculous mycobacteria after exposure to a Stöckert 3T heater-cooler during cardiothoracic surgical procedures. The registry collects and disseminates information about the epidemiology, clinical manifestations, treatment, and outcomes for affected patients. Additional details about the registry such as inclusion criteria and registry contact information are available at www.NTMInfect.org.