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The U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration may be becoming more cautious in its push for new regulations that include a standard on infectious diseases.
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Saying preventing health care associated infections (HAIs) is a national priority, the federal Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) is putting considerable money where its mouth is: $34 million.
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As patients have moved, infections have moved with them. Accordingly, there is a surge of interest and research funding to implement and improve infection prevention beyond the hospital.
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Infection preventionists who want to keep their programs in compliance should be well aware that when emergency responders transport an incoming patient who is later found to have a potentially life-threatening disease, they need to receive prompt notification from the hospital about the exposure risk.
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A recent federal report that included the highly publicized finding that some 15,000 Medicare patients die every month due to adverse events and hospital-acquired conditions (HAC) may ratchet up pressure on hospitals to prevent infections, which represented some 15% of the HACs.
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Group B streptococcal (GBS) disease is the leading cause of early-onset neonatal sepsis (within the first week of life) in the United States. Since the initial recommendations for perinatal prophylaxis in the 1990s, the incidence of GBS has declined by 80%.
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The national epidemic of Clostridium difficile is moving into the pediatric population, causing infections in children that prolong hospitalizations, increase morbidity and spell a striking increase in the risk of death.
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When it comes to MRSA infection control in the chaotic emergency department (ED), enhanced attention to standard precautions and hand hygiene is a more cost-effective approach than active screening cultures, researchers report.
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More health care workers responded to this season's push for influenza vaccination by rolling up their sleeves and getting the vaccine.
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In the H1N1 influenza A pandemic, many infected health care workers failed to wear personal protective equipment. They became sick after caring for infected patients. In addition, they were infected after socializing with co-workers who came to work sick.
