Peggy Ann Hazamy
Innovating to improve HAI reporting
Peggy Ann Hazamy, RN, BSN, CIC
NYSDOH Bureau of Healthcare-Associated Infections
Hamburg, NY
Peggy Hazamy turned the daunting task of overseeing HAI reporting at 39 New York hospitals into opportunities to positively impact infection prevention practice across her state and even nationwide.
A former critical care nurse, Hazamy developed a reputation for innovative problem-solving at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute, where she initiated the Comprehensive Cancer Centers Infection Control Group (C3IC) to improve infection control benchmarking and innovation within cancer centers.
In 2007, Hazamy became a regional representative for the New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Healthcare-Associated Infection (HAI) Reporting program – a role that allowed her to combine her infection prevention and control expertise with her team-building skills to influence and support infection preventionists (IPs) from a wide variety of facilities. In this position she is responsible for HAI reporting at all facilities in her region. This includes performing internal and external data reviews to ensure reporting accuracy and completeness, and serving as a resource to improve surveillance and prevention practices.
Where Hazamy sees needs for tools to facilitate reporting, she creates them. These include a planning tool that prioritizes auditing based on individual hospitals’ HAIs or reporting issues, a reporting timeline to keep data entry on track, and “Noteworthy Topics”, an educational newsletter for state IPs.
Hazamy’s most significant contribution may still be coming: After conducting annual on-site audits for four years, she developed a remote-auditing process that is more efficient and cost-effective, and also supports national healthcare reform through meaningful use of electronic health records. Using a clinical-information exchange system, Hazamy reviewed data from 24 of her 39 hospitals remotely in 2012. She will continue refining the process this year, sharing learnings with her APIC peers as she has done many times previously.
“Participating in your professional organization should be part of your passion,” said Hazamy. “Through APIC, I hope my experience and enthusiasm inspires many other IPs.”