Hospital Infection Control & Prevention – September 1, 2009
September 1, 2009
View Issues
-
New York mandates seasonal flu vaccinations for health care workers: Is H1N1 shot next?
In a likely prelude to a battle royal over mandating a swine flu vaccine, the New York State Health Department overrode nursing union protests recently in enacting an emergency regulation requiring seasonal flu shots for frontline health care workers. -
Death of nurse sets ominous pandemic tone
In an case that sets an ominous tone for the resurging pandemic, a healthy 51-year-old oncology nurse who worked in Carmichael, CA, recently died of a coinfection with H1N1 influenza A and methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus. (MRSA). -
Will NY flu shot mandate drive nurses from field?
A New York mandate that health care workers receive seasonal flu shots may drive nurses from the profession even as that state faces a nursing shortage, said Eileen Avery, MS, RN, associate director of the New York State Nurses Association (NYSNA). -
NY flu reg enforcement largely falls to hospitals
Enforcement of a controversial regulation mandating flu shots for New York health care workers appears to fall primarily to hospitals and other health care facilities. -
Respirators or masks? A 'Solomonic' decision
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is expected to issue a ruling by Oct. 1 on whether health care workers should wear surgical masks or N95 respirators when treating patients infected with H1N1 influenza A. -
Leadership support boosts flu vaccination
Can strong hospital leadership supporting flu immunization be as successful and less divisive as mandating the seasonal shots? -
Pregnant women face high risk of pandemic flu
Pregnant women appear to be particularly vulnerable to H1N1 influenza A virus and will be the top priority to receive a vaccine expected to be available this fall against the pandemic strain, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) recently recommended. -
iPNewbe: Take 5 with an IP Newbie
(Editor's note: Carol LaChance, RN, infection preventionist at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston, ME, has been in the field three years. With a background of 24 years in nursing, she has found the switch to an IP position difficult but empowering. We recently asked her five key questions.) -
Wisdom Teachers: Hospital epi weathers challenge of change
With recession-driven budget cuts being only the latest example, the field of hospital epidemiology and infection prevention has faced numerous threats and ominous predictions of its impending doom. -
The Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: Joint Commission urges health care CEOs to lead the fight against drug-resistant infections
The Joint Commission is calling on health care administrators to take the lead in preventing infections with multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs), reminding them that current patient safety goals require CEOs to take responsibility for implementing programs to prevent these deadly and costly outcomes. -
The Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: Joint Commission takes on decolonization issue
The Joint Commission takes on the controversial issue of decolonization of patients carrying multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) in a new report aimed at health care CEOs. -
The Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: JC deadline on MDRO goal is Jan. 1, 2010
The Joint Commission's 2009 patient safety goal regarding multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs) includes the following key provisions and deadlines: -
The Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: Joint chief: Quality must be part of health reform
National health care reform must include a quality component including preventing health care-associated infections if it is to become an effective and affordable reality, Mark R. Chassin, MD, president of The Joint Commission, notes in a commentary posted on the Joint Commission web site (http://www.jointcommission.org).