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On Jan. 13, 2004, the World Health Organization (WHO) reported a new suspect case of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) in a 35-year-old man living in Guangdong province, China.
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Concerned about the emerging threat of pandemic influenza in Vietnam, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has dispatched a team to Hanoi to investigate an H5N1 avian flu outbreak that had claimed 12 lives as of Jan. 15, 2003.
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In a move that stunned infection control professionals, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) recently announced that it will require one of the most contentious provisions of its failed tuberculosis standard annual respirator fit-testing under its existing general respiratory protection standard.
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Amid increasing sensational press exposés and consumer advocates demanding release of hospital infection rates, comes this cold truth from a leading public health official: Health care-associated infections are fraught with so many variables that epidemiologists dont really know how many occur and how many can be prevented.
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New infection control standards by the Joint Commission describe a widely supported and collaborative program that represents one of a hospitals top priorities. Highlights of the 2005 standards, which are effective next Jan. 1, include this statement in the overview:
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Infection control professionals have the expertise to handle a rapidly expanding job definition, but must have the resources and staff to accomplish the new demands on the profession, a leading ICP recently said in Chicago at a conference held by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations.
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Diagnosing potentially deadly central venous catheterrelated bloodstream infections may be difficult, but the authors found that a lot of it may be a matter of timing.
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On July 5, 2002, Baby A was born at a term gestation of 38 week by emergency cesarean due to prolonged decelerations. The infant had Apgar scores of 0/0/0 at 1/5/10 minutes, respectively, and a poor score of 4, 20 minutes after birth.
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A case management program dedicated to infants in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) has saved Blue Shield of California an average of four days length of stay off each NICU admission, saving the health plan about $3,500 a day.
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The regional offices of Blue Cross Blue Shield of Arkansas each have their own identity but they follow consistent policies and procedures based on URAC standards for the companys case management program.
