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The objective of this monograph is to provide an overview of the scope of allergic disorders, and review the current understanding of the mechanism of the allergic response. Due to the extensive nature of the topic, we will limit our discussion to systemic reactions eliciting an IgE-mediated response. Further, the intimate relationship between organs involved will be reviewed, particularly the relationship between allergic rhinitis and asthma. Part I includes the current evaluation, including historical features, exposures, physical exam findings, and ancillary diagnostic options will be reviewed.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides the following answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA).
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Some of the key aspects of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations 2005 infection control standards are summarized here:
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Emerging infections, bioterrorism, and the patient safety movement are converging along with changes in the health care delivery system to reinvent the role of infection control. But the rising profile of infection control professionals is not necessarily lifting salaries along with it.
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A recent patient safety report by an Institute of Medicine committee in Washington, DC, includes the following true firsthand account of a staffing problem leading to a nosocomial infection.
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At least three similar but distinct strains of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) are emerging in the United States, rendering common empiric therapy useless and causing aggressive skin infections, Healthcare Infection Prevention has learned.
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A nosocomial outbreak of a novel strain of strikingly resistant Acinetobacter baumanii led to two patient deaths before it was eradicated through strict isolation and environmental decontamination, an infection control professional reports.
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The Joint Commission provides the following answers to frequently asked questions about its 2004 patient safety goal to manage as sentinel events all identified cases of unanticipated death or major permanent loss of function associated with a health care-acquired infections:
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The Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations has issued new infection control standards for 2005, emphasizing at a conference in Chicago that hospital executives not ICPs are going to have to take ultimate responsibility for enacting them.