Hospital Infection Control & Prevention – March 1, 2008
March 1, 2008
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CDC is on the fast track with new UTI prevention guidelines
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is drafting comprehensive new guidelines for urinary tract infections (UTIs), a complication so common and typically treatable that it has been accepted with a sort of benign neglect by the health care system. -
AHA protests fed move to halt IC program
A decision by a federal agency to halt a landmark infection prevention effort continues to create fallout, with the American Hospital Association (AHA) issuing a strongly worded letter protesting the move. -
Inconvenient study: Hand washing up, rates unfazed
Surprising research results which have been widely misinterpreted as evidence that hand hygiene has little impact on infection rates more likely reveal that health care infections (HAIs) arise from complex causes and cannot be prevented by a single intervention, the author tells Hospital Infection Control. -
APIC trying to leverage CMS regs to boost ICP resources
Trying to leverage federal reimbursement cuts into support and resources for ICPs, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) has launched a series of educational initiatives in an ambitious follow-up to its ongoing efforts to eradicate methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). -
Hand hygiene, dermatitis: nature trumps nurture
Frequent hand washing appears to heighten the risk for irritant contact dermatitis in health care workers, particularly those genetically predisposed to the condition, investigators report. -
Abstract & Commentary: SARS, pandemic flu: Fear, memory, infection control
The perception of health care risks motivates behaviors in health care workers as well as patients. Several years after the SARS outbreak in China and Hong Kong, Japanese industrial scientists found that health care workers had a high perception of risk for SARS manifest primarily by a desire to avoid patients. At the same time these workers had a low acceptance of risk and felt little personal control. -
FDA approves rapid tests for MRSA, influenza
In what could be a boon for infection surveillance and treatment programs, the Food and Drug Administration has approved a new rapid test for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) that can identify the bug in two hours. -
Stop CR-BSIs at your facility
Sign up now for AHC Media's upcoming audio conference, The Buck Stops Soon: Prevent CR-BSIs or Pay Up on Thursday, March 26, 2008, from 1 p.m-2:30 p.m. ET. -
The Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: Joint Commission ups the ante on infection prevention
The Joint Commission has broadly expanded its emphasis on infection prevention in proposed 2009 patient safety goals that recommend specific strategies to fight a veritable "murderers' row" of health care-associated infections (HAIs). -
The Joint Commission Update for Infection Control: Proposed safety goals call for specific practices
The Joint Commission's proposed 2009 National Patient Safety Goals include the following new emphasis on infection prevention: