News Items

Join the NEW HAI WATCHDOG* Community

Join the community of healthcare professionals concerned with preventing Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs), which at any given moment seriously affect 1.4 million hospitalized patients worldwide. The HAI WATCHDOG* Community forums are intended to provide a place for healthcare providers to discuss issues and best practices related to Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs).
Kimberly-Clark is committed to helping win the battle to prevent HAIs. As part of that effort, we are pleased to sponsor this community site for healthcare providers to discuss HAIs without mention of product-specific information.

Benefits of becoming a member:

Learn from and share best practices with
other healthcare professionals
Make a poster to help prevent the spread
of HAIs in your facility
Look for and discuss the latest HAI news on our forums

Create an HAI Commitment Poster

Help your staff stay on high alert to prevent Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs). Create a poster customized with your HAI prevention message, logo and photo to use in your facility. It only takes a few minutes to customize and print or email your HAI commitment poster. To begin, join the HAI *WATCHDOG* Community.

HAI Watchdog* Awards

Healthcare facilities everywhere continue to make strides in preventing HAIs, thanks to the innovative and effective techniques of dedicated healthcare professionals. Kimberly-Clark created the HAI WATCHDOG* Awards in recognition of Healthcare-Associated Infection champions who are making a difference for the reduction and prevention of these infections.

Although the 2010 entry deadline has passed, all entries describing individual healthcare facilities’ programs to combat HAIs are now posted for your review. Get ideas from their stories to enhance programs in your facility. The Clinician’s Choice awards category, based on votes of clinicians in 2010, is recognizing Memorial Healthcare System in Chattanooga, Tn. for their campaign, “It Ain’t No Jive, Hand Hygiene Saves Lives”. Be sure to read their story and the other entries. Panel-judged entries are being reviewed by a committee of infection control experts and the best of the three categories will be announced in early April on the HAI WATCHDOG* Community.

Healthcare-Associated Infections

When someone develops an infection at a hospital or other patient care facility that they did not have prior to treatment, this is referred to as a Healthcare-Associated (sometimes hospital-acquired) Infection (HAI).

Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAIs) are a global crisis affecting both patients and healthcare workers.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), at any point in time, 1.4 million people worldwide suffer from infections acquired in hospitals.

A Centers for Disease Control (CDC) report published in March-April 2007 estimated the number of U.S. deaths from healthcare associated infections in 2002 at 98,987.

The risk of acquiring Healthcare-Associated Infections in developing countries is 2-20 times higher than in developed countries.

Afflicting thousands of patients every year, HAI often leads to lengthened hospital stays, increasing the likelihood of readmission, and adding sizably to the cost of care per patient.

Nurses and doctors prevent Healthcare-associated infections (HAI)

Financially, HAIs represent an estimated annual impact of $6.7 billion to healthcare facilities, but the human cost is even higher.

To learn more about the impact of Healthcare-Associated Infections for both medical professionals and patients, please visit www.haiwatch.com.

About Not on My Watch Prevention Campaign

To protect patients by reducing the risk of HAI, healthcare professionals must continually update their knowledge of infection management.

As part of an ongoing commitment to quality care and infection prevention, nationwide doctors and hospitals are partnering with Kimberly-Clark to deliver continuing education programs on Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI) prevention to staff and management. As simple as education sounds, busy doctors and nurses on the front lines of delivering care can find it difficult to find the time to take advantage of scheduled programs within their hospitals.

The HAI Education Program is part of a national infection awareness campaign for healthcare professionals called “Not on My Watch” and will provide the facility with a toolkit that contains informational flyers, patient safety tips and posters.

The "Not on My Watch" campaign provides accredited continuing education (CE) programs based on best practices and guidelines as well as research available on reducing the incidence of Healthcare-Associated Infections.

For details about the "Not On My Watch" campaign, and the HAI Education Bus please visit www.HAIwatch.com.

HAI Education Bus

Kimberly-Clark's Not on My Watch HAI Bus for Healthcare-associated infections education

At Kimberly-Clark, it’s our mission to find innovative ways to develop and maintain a variety of accredited education, equipping healthcare providers with critical insights and information on today’s important clinical issues. That’s why we’re proud to introduce the HAI Education Bus, an impressive new one-of-a-kind mobile classroom that brings accredited CE education right to your door.

Look for this tour bus as it makes its way across the country, delivering education about Healthcare-Associated Infections and other critical healthcare issues from the plains of Texas to the California coast to New York City and places in between.

Types of Healthcare-Associated Infections

Ventilator - Associated Pneumonia (VAP)

VAP is the source of the highest morbidity and mortality of all Healthcare Associated Infections.

Read More About VAP

Surgical Site Infections (SSIs)

Any breach of patient skin can lead to a surgical site infection.

Read More About SSIs

Cross Contamination (Contact Transfer)

Contact transfer (touch contamination) is the number one source of Healthcare Associated Infections.

Read More About Contact Transfer

About HAI Watch

HAI Watch is your resource for collateral and supplies to help keep your organization aware of the importance of healthcare associated infection prevention. The following guidelines on hand hygiene in healthcare settings and other tips are available now, but keep checking back. New HAI awareness tools will be added on an ongoing basis.

About Kimberly-Clark Health Care

At Kimberly-Clark Health Care, we deliver innovative healthcare solutions that you can depend on to meet the demands of your fast-paced world, supported by in-service training, clinical research and accredited education.

Our solutions help you prevent, diagnose, and manage major issues in these clinical areas: Infection Prevention (Protection & Infection Control, Ventilator-Associated Pneumonia and Surgical Site Infections), Digestive Health and Pain Management.

About Kimberly-Clark Corporation

Kimberly-Clark and its well-known global brands are an indispensable part of life for people in more than 150 countries.

Every day, 1.3 billion people - nearly a quarter of the world's population - trust K-C brands and the solutions they provide to enhance their health, hygiene and well-being.

With brands such as Kleenex, Scott, Huggies, Pull-Ups, Kotex and Depend, Kimberly-Clark holds No. 1 or No. 2 share positions in more than 80 countries. To keep up with the latest K-C news and to learn more about the company's 137-year history of innovation, visit www.kimberly-clark.com