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Infectious Disease Alert Updates
Infectious Disease Approval to Reduce Hospital Clostridioides difficile Cases; Oral Amoxicillin for Syphilis
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APIC: SCOTUS Race Ruling: ‘Willfully Ignores’ Challenges Minorities Still Face
The U.S. Supreme Court’s recent ruling that race cannot be a factor in college, medical, and nursing school admissions was, if nothing else, tone-deaf. The ruling came in the simmering aftermath of a three-year pandemic that exposed widespread inequity in healthcare, and gave rise to the perception of “institutionalized racism” in medicine.
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Respiratory Triple Play: Vaccination Is the Key
As a trifecta of viruses converge this fall and winter, the United States has an unprecedented infection control counterpunch: vaccines for the 2023-2024 flu season, new shots for respiratory syncytial virus, and the latest formula to protect against COVID-19.
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Joint Commission: If You Create Infection Control Policy, Make Sure You Follow It
If infection preventionists adopt or write up an infection control policy — even if it goes beyond existing recommendations and requirements — The Joint Commission will cite or “score” them if the hospital is not following it. Do not put in word what you will not follow in deed, said Sylvia Garcia-Houchins, MBA, RN, CIC, director of infection prevention and control at The Joint Commission.
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Incentivizing New Antibiotics to Kill Multidrug-Resistant Bugs
Bacteria have developed resistance to so many antibiotics that a familiar adage about these lifesaving drugs is “use ’em and lose ’em.” Ideas to break this cycle and create a market for new antibiotics include the proposed PASTEUR (Pioneering Antimicrobial Subscriptions To End Upsurging Resistance) Act of 2023, which has been reintroduced in Congress.
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Necessity and Reinvention: APIC Tries to Hire, Retain IPs
As a generation of infection preventionists (IPs) near career end, it is well to remember that many of them tell a similar story of how they got into the profession. Often, they were working some other clinical job and an opening or temporary need came up in the infection control department. To paraphrase what Hospital Infection Control & Prevention has reported time and again from new IPs to long-established leaders in the field, “I just fell into it and I loved it. I found it fascinating.”
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Navigating Antimicrobial Resistance
As more patients request antibiotics for managing many types of illnesses, it is no surprise that antimicrobial resistance is on the rise. According to the CDC, 2.8 million antimicrobial-resistant infections occur every year in the United States, with 35,000 deaths.
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Caring for COPD Patients During Winter
Navigating the care of patients who are living with chronic conditions already is challenging, but it takes an extra layer of thoughtfulness for a case manager to also consider the climate and season when making plans and facilitating decisions for patients with COPD.
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Pharmacists Can Help Improve Diabetes Outcomes in the Community
Some health systems are trying to integrate pharmacists in primary care units in hopes of improving outcomes for patients with chronic diseases, such as diabetes and hypertension. One model is to assign four or five primary care providers per pharmacist and create a co-visit model that integrates pharmacists in care involving medication management.
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Care Coordination Connects Students with Healthcare Providers
School mental health providers find care coordination to be important for students in public school districts. Care coordination refers to care activities for delivering services through communication to all involved, with the central goal of meeting the student’s needs and preferences and addressing gaps in care.