University of Utah Prevention Epicenter

Overview

The University of Utah's Prevention Epicenter, Intermountain Program on Antibiotic Resistance and Microbial Threats (IMPART) addresses problems of high importance to public health. These include healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), antimicrobial resistance (AR) and emerging pathogens (microorganisms that can cause disease). The IMPART Epicenter's research is designed to improve approaches to effectively control and respond to these threats.

This Epicenter contributes to pathogen-specific workgroups set up under CDC's Prevention Epicenter Program. Its activities have close alignment with CDC's health priorities and substantial CDC staff programmatic involvement.

The IMPART Epicenter actively collaborates with other Prevention Epicenter sites and works closely with public health entities at national, state and local levels. The University of Utah is the hub for the program, with Intermountain Health, a large regional integrated health system, serving as a major node. The Veterans Affairs (VA) Salt Lake City Healthcare System is a key partner for the Prevention Epicenter site operating within a programmatic network that encompasses the entire VA health system.

This Epicenter supports comprehensive epidemiological analysis of infections within the Department of VA Health System, as well as Intermountain Health and University of Utah Health.

Core research study areas

The IMPART Epicenter makes significant contributions to improve the quality of antibiotic use, combat AR, and enhance health system response to microbial threats across the continuum of care. Epicenter investigators conduct large-scale observational studies, as well as lead or co-lead interventional studies that range in scope from small pilots to multi-community randomized trials.

• Core Project 1 evaluates alternative implementation strategies for outpatient antibiotic stewardship and promotes sharing best practices for antibiotic stewardship.
• Core Project 2 tackles a longstanding source of controversy in the healthcare epidemiology community–the role of active surveillance and Contact Precautions (CP) in preventing HAIs due to endemic (widespread) multidrug-resistant organisms (MDRO) such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). A period of partial CP de-implementation (stopping particular practices) in some VA facilities, triggered in response to the emergence of COVID-19, creates the opportunity to study the impact of this natural experiment.
• Core Project 3 links an epidemiological analysis of transmission pathways (how germs enter the body) in long-term care (LTC) facilities to the development and implementation of new approaches to improve practice.
• Core Project 4 confronts the global health challenge of COVID-19, to prepare for future epidemics and increase understanding of how to control healthcare spread of both seasonal and novel viruses.
• Implement the Mountain West Stewardship Collaborative – Education, Research and Dissemination. (Adam Hersh, MD, PhD, Emily Spivak, MD, MHS, and Edward Stenehjem, MD)
• Estimate the Impact of Changes in Contact Precautions Policies on MRSA Transmission in VA Acute Care Facilities. (Michael Rubin, MD, PhD, MS)
• Improve Cleaning of Shared Equipment to Mitigate MDRO Transmission in Long-Term Care Facilities. (Frank Drews, PhD, and Lindsay Visnovsky, PhD, MS)
• Enhance Epidemic Preparedness for Novel Respiratory Transmission. (Matthew Samore, MD and Jeanmarie Mayer, MD)

Multicenter collaborative research projects

Personal Protective Equipment Management System. (Rachael Jones, PhD, Margaret Sietsema, PhD, and Lindsay Visnovsky, PhD, MS)

Principal investigators

Matthew H. Samore, MD and Michael Rubin, MD, PhD, MS