Jamestown Regional Medical Center (JRMC) has received recognition from Becker’s Hospital Review as one of 455 hospitals in America with a Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infection rate of zero in 2024, based on the healthcare-associated infections dataset from Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS). This recognition highlights JRMC’s commitment to safety and trustworthiness for its patients.
C. diff is an infection-causing bacterium that targets the colon. Illness from C. diff is most commonly a result of antibiotic overuse and can cause serious long-term damage without proper treatment.
According to JRMC Quality and Risk Manager Jenna Bredahl, JRMC treated 11 outpatient cases of C. diff since July 2024. To date, there have been no cases of hospital-acquired C. diff at the medical center.
“Every case of C. diff that comes through the lab is taken very seriously,” Bredahl said. “We are proud to be a medical center where patients can feel safe and trust the care that they are going to receive.”
Infection control at JRMC happens on several levels — UV sanitization to kill bacteria in all areas of care, handwashing and proper hygiene procedures, appropriate lab testing, treatment protocols and isolation precautions in cases of highly contagious infections, such as C. diff. In addition, JRMC’s environmental services (EVS) department maintains cleanliness in all public, staff and patient-facing spaces.
“Without an excellent EVS team, there is no infection control at JRMC,” said Nicole Mack, JRMC quality review and infection prevention nurse. “No matter how clean our hands are or how isolated we keep the infections, EVS is critical to all infection control and prevention here.”
To learn more about the care offered at JRMC, please call (701) 952-1050.