Hospital Infection Control & Prevention – December 1, 2009
December 1, 2009
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Infectious disease experts ask President Obama to end H1N1 influenza respirator debacle
A misguided federal mandate that health care workers don N95 respirators to treat known or suspect H1N1 influenza A patients is critically undermining the medical response to the first pandemic in four decades, clinicians tell Hospital Infection Control & Prevention. -
OSHA will consider 'good-faith' efforts on N95 compliance
Particulate respirators a controversial step beyond common surgical masks are now mandated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to protect health care workers from acquiring H1N1 pandemic influenza A from patients. -
Obama letter: N95s threaten response
The nation's leading infection prevention groups are urging President Barack Obama to halt federal enforcement of a mandate that health care workers wear N95 respirators to treat H1N1 pandemic patients. -
Dueling studies: Mask debate is not academic
Talk about peer review. Rarely do medical researchers have their specific papers described to the president of the United States, but that is the case for two studies playing a central role in the national furor over surgical masks vs. respirators for H1N1 protection. -
Industrial hygiene group says N95s the right call
The American Industrial Hygiene Association (AIHA) has issued a position statement on H1N1 pandemic influenza A that endorses and reiterates the key findings of an Institute of Medicine panel that recommended N95 respirators for health care workers. Key points stressed by AIHA include: -
The Joint Comission Update for Infection Control: Transformers: Joint Commission's center debuts with infection prevention project
Infection prevention is a top priority of an ambitious new quality improvement effort that could lead to new accreditation standards for the nation's hospitals, says Mark R. Chassin, MD, MPP, MPH, president of The Joint Commission. -
The Joint Comission Update for Infection Control: Joint Commission: Patient safety is in your H.A.N.D.S.
A hand hygiene project launched at The Joint Commission's Center for Transforming Healthcare cites the following problems and solutions on hand hygiene: -
The Joint Comission Update for Infection Control: Sentinel Event Alert pairs leadership and safety
The fact that The Joint Commission had to recently issue a Sentinel Event Alert underscoring leadership's critical role in patient safety and quality care is "somewhat sad," notes Ronald B. Goodspeed, MD, MPH, FACP, FACPE, an instructor on health care management in the department of health policy and management, Harvard School of Public Health and former president of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Prevention of Medical Errors. -
The Joint Comission Update for Infection Control: Hand hygiene: Time to report individual rates?
Looking at the historically low compliance numbers surrounding hand hygiene, Stephen Weber, MD, Joint Commission consultant and chief health care epidemiologist at the University of Chicago Medical Center, can only shake his head.