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The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) has created a toolkit on improving influenza vaccination rates in heath care workers.
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According to the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases, these are the key strategies to establish a successful flu immunization program for health care workers.
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Spurred by historically poor flu immunization compliance in an age of patient safety, some powerful health care forces are converging to make the annual flu shot a new professional standard for health care workers.
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While much attention has been paid to new hospital infection control standards for 2005, the Joint Commission also is adopting similar standards in long-term care facilities. A pre-publication edition of the new standards for long-term care, which will be effective Jan. 1, 2005, call for the following key provisions.
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Both clinical disease and sputum colonization due to Mycobacterium avium complex were traced to the potable water system of a large public hospital. There are no established methods for eradicating these organisms from potable water.
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All patients who present to a health care setting with fever and respiratory symptoms should be managed according to the CDCs recommendations for respiratory hygiene and cough etiquette and questioned regarding their recent travel history.
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In a strategy somewhat reminiscent of the state-by-state battle to get needle safety laws enacted, consumer advocates are taking their cry for open hospital infection rate reporting to one legislature at a time. Pennsylvania and Illinois have enacted laws, and bills are under discussion in a variety of other states.
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Shedding of virus after use of live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV) in adults occurs the first few days after vaccination, but is minimal by one week after immunization. The data suggest that the recommendations for LAIV use in health care workers could be modified to include separation from patients for, at most, seven days after vaccination, reports Tom Tolbert, MD, MPH, instructor of medicine in the division of infectious diseases at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville, TN.
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Moving to clear up the considerable confusion of the last flu season, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has drafted new guidelines for health care workers who receive the live attenuated influenza vaccine (LAIV), Hospital Infection Control has learned. The CDCs Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) is expected to soon release new guidelines that will allow the LAIV nasal spray vaccine to be used more liberally in health care settings with fewer restrictions on immunized workers.
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When it comes to treating lipids in patients with heart disease, the mantra may be, The lower the LDL, the better. Data from the multicenter Reversal of Atherosclerosis with Aggressive Lipid Lowering (REVERSAL) trial indicate that aggressive reduction of atherogenic lipoproteins prevents progression of disease.
