This week I had the opportunity to meet Gibson Area Hospital & Health Services (GAHHS) Director of Infection Control, Mae Eichelberger, RN, BSN, CIC. Mae has been CIC certified since 2017 and has been a nurse for almost 50 years. In her role, Mae oversees acute and long-term care, and serves as a resource for all GAHHS clinics, the pharmacy and the on-site dental practice. I wanted to spend the day with Mae and learn more about her role as an infection preventionist as well as the facility she works in.
A Part of the Community
Gibson Area Hospital is a healthcare facility located in Gibson City, Illinois. It is a 25-bed critical access hospital that offers a broad range of services including emergency care, obstetrics, labor and delivery, inpatient and outpatient surgery, diagnostic imaging, interventional radiology, laboratory services, rehabilitation & therapy services, outpatient infusion, primary care, orthopedics, extensive outpatient specialties and long-term care. The hospital serves 8 counties, including the communities of Gibson City, Melvin, Sibley, Elliott, Paxton, and Foosland and provided care for patients from 800 zip codes in 2022. GAHHS also operates multiple clinics and physician practices in the region, providing primary and specialty care services to patients of all ages with a total of 126,382 clinic visits last year. GAHHS is rooted in access to quality healthcare in rural areas.
The hospital has been serving the community for 70 years and is committed to providing high quality, personalized, professional healthcare services in fulfilling its vision to be THE model of excellence in community-based healthcare. Gibson’s tagline is simple yet powerful: Gibson Gets It.
Surveillance
Mae starts each day with surveillance. Surveillance is essential in infection prevention processes; allowing healthcare facilities to monitor the occurrence and spread of infectious diseases within their patient populations. By monitoring data on the incidence and prevalence of pathogens, healthcare facilities can identify trends, patterns, and outbreaks of infections; taking appropriate action to prevent further transmission. She currently has a part-time infection control clerk, a nursing student, who assists with direct observation of hand hygiene and environmental surveillance.
Part of what Mae enjoys about her role, is that no two days are the same. When Mae first started in this role there was a remodel of the front entry to the hospital which was adjacent to an area where high-risk patients were receiving treatment. She stressed the importance of a collaborative team and worked with the Executive Director of Safety on ways to contain dust and safely dispose of debris during this project. Mae always meets with contractors at the start of every project and routinely serves as a monitor and resource for environment of care projects.
Interdisciplinary care
Every day there is an interdisciplinary care conference in which Mae participates. Also in attendance are Gibson’s occupational/physical/respiratory therapists, floor nurses, hospitalists, and case managers. The purpose of this meeting is for everyone to discuss plans of care and discharge planning for patients. A collaborative care plan supports patients and ensures communication between staff. Collaboration was a theme throughout my time with Mae and how this promotes a supportive culture at the hospital. When healthcare providers work together as a team, they can develop a more comprehensive understanding of a patient’s health condition and provide more effective and coordinated care. Additionally, it can lead to improved patient outcomes, increased efficiency, enhanced patient safety, improved patient satisfaction, and better resource utilization.
Every Tuesday Mae attends a weekly leadership meeting. This virtual huddle pulls in managers from all the clinics as well as hospital departments and is a platform promoting collaboration and dissemination of information. Mae states that these weekly meetings have improved communication within the organization.
COVID-19 and the Pandemic
I wanted to learn more about the Covid-19 pandemic and how this impacted Mae’s role. At the start of the pandemic, GAH was able to secure COVID testing and performed 7,000 tests over 3.5 months. As an alternative to inconvenient and untimely COVID-19 assays, they were able to serve individuals in Gibson City and many surrounding communities by providing rapid COVID tests via drive through clinics. Infection prevention and control, the lab department, hospital security, hospital administration, employee health, the emergency department, and nursing all worked to implement this effort. “It was all hands on deck and that’s what we do at Gibson”, states Mae. “This showcases what we do and how our high-quality organization functions every day.”
This was also at a time when due to supply chain issues, disposable isolation gowns were unavailable. Several clinics were unable to operate due to Covid-19 and various clinic staff were tasked to make DIY disposable gowns. They became experts in making ~16,000 gowns from plastic or vinyl. Mae describes the support from administration to purchase supplies to make gowns. It even became a contest between several clinics to see how many gowns they could make in a day. “Because of our collaborative process and our administration being very proactive, our organization was able to better serve our patients and employees during this critical time.”
Mae states the community at large appreciates the value and resource the hospital provides. “At the beginning of COVID, our administration donated hand sanitizers and environmental cleaning supplies to our schools. We were able to find masks for the schools when their vendor was unable to supply these,” says Mae. Mae states she has never worked in a more collaborative environment, “the hospital is small enough that you must be competent and flexible, wearing several hats. GAH is also large enough to offer multiple specialties and complex patient care.” “I appreciate how the collaborative culture here supports and facilitates my role as Infection Preventionist.”
The Role
I asked Mae what she enjoys most about her role, “I enjoy the autonomy I have, and the positive impact providing a safe environment has on patients, employees and visitors. Saving lives through the focus on infection prevention and control is meaningful to me” says Mae. She stresses that no-one in the U.S should ever acquire healthcare-associated infections and that as an IP you are instrumental in saving lives. “Impacting the health of others on this level is fulfilling.” She thinks anyone who is an IP would enjoy the education and resourcing part of the role.
When asked what advice she would give to someone pursuing a career in infection prevention and control, she states that infection prevention and control is broad based. She recommends studying nursing, communicable disease, epidemiology, and microbiology, finding a mentor, joining a local APIC chapter, and being familiar with international websites to learn about pathogens trending in geographic regions both in the U.S, and around the world.
Certification
I shifted our conversation to certification and asked why she pursued CIC certification. “I had a good medical and clinical background, but it was such a different world in infection prevention and control. I felt obtaining certification was necessary to perform my job well. I’ve since recognized that when we have our surveys and they see I have a CIC, I get many fewer questions,” says Mae. She stressed the importance of practice tests to prepare for the exam. When asked if the CIC helped her grow professionally, she states, “Yes, absolutely. It opened a lot of avenues for references for me. I now know about APIC chapters, and the networking has been great. It’s easy to be siloed in Infection Prevention; networking assists in curbing this tendency.” She encourages others to pursue certification as well, “Go for it! It will only enhance your practice and will strengthen your professional voice,” says Mae.
I would like to thank Mae for spending the day with me and want to recognize her commitment to certification and lifelong learning. Mae sets an example to others about the importance of collaboration and how a collaborative culture contributes to safe and effective healthcare services and helps prevent the spread of infections in healthcare settings and beyond.