-
Though Chicago is roughly 1,700 miles from Mexico City the epicenter of the H1N1 influenza A outbreak it didn't take long for the virus to get there when warnings of a possible pandemic began coming out.
-
As it became clear to many public health departments and infection preventionists that H1N1 influenza was acting more like a seasonal influenza virus than a pandemic strain, many broke with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and downgraded infection control measures accordingly.
-
Health care workers or public health workers who were not using appropriate personal protective equipment during close contact with an ill confirmed, probable, or suspect case of swine-origin influenza A (H1N1) virus infection during the case's infectious period are indicated for post-exposure antiviral chemoprophylaxis with either oseltamivir or zanamivir, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends.
-
Health care-associated infections (HAIs) are clearly on the radar of Kathleen Sebelius, the new Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). She recently called for action to prevent HAIs in praising two new HHS reports on the quality of health care in America.
-
The Joint Commission has issued a major new document on the difficult issue of assessing hand hygiene compliance by health care workers.
-
It is important to investigate the reasons for nonadherence to hand hygiene guidelines before deciding on one or more improvement strategies, according to a new report by The Joint Commission and its partners. It also is useful to examine the organizational context of health care delivery, which may facilitate or inhibit adherence.
-
Along with yearly vaccination, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommend the use of personal protective equipment (PPE) by health care workers (HCWs) to prevent influenza infection in the ICU.
-
Colonization of the respiratory tract and other sites with Candida species is common in ICU patients but it is unclear how often these species cause pneumonia that warrants antifungal therapy.
-
The ICU is commonly viewed as a stressful environment. While common, stress responses are likely to vary over time, between individuals, and as a result of the context in which they occur.
-
This study was designed to determine whether intensive glucose control in ICU patients reduces mortality at 90 days. Secondary outcomes included survival time during the 90 days, cause-specific death, duration of mechanical ventilation, need for renal replacement therapy, and hospital and ICU lengths of stay.
