Epic now includes a new infection flag to identify potential C. diff carriers. Currently, only patients with active C. diff infection have an automatic infection flag (“Clostridium difficile”) placed in the header of their chart. This flag appears when the C. diff toxin test is positive, which is the second, confirmatory test in our new two-step testing method for C. diff. When the initial C. diff PCR test result is positive, it reflexes to the toxin test.
The new flag is called “Toxin Neg. (C. diff carrier).” It will “fire” when the PCR test is positive and the toxin assay is negative. This helps identify patients who are colonized with C. diff (carriers), but do not have active infection. These patients should remain in Contact Plus precautions until they are diarrhea-free for 72 hours.
Please contact Infection Prevention (infection.prevention@salemhealth.org or 503-814-2788) if you have any questions. Thank you!