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Fewer than half of the nations acute care hospitals have vaccinated even a single employee against smallpox, and only 235 have vaccinated a response team of at least 25 employees, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported. That means hospitals will need to consider other mechanisms to ensure bioterrorism preparedness, CDC experts said.
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National patient safety legislation that would encourage the confidential reporting of medical errors is critically needed in todays health care system, urged Dennis OLeary, MD, president of the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations in Oakbrook Terrace, IL.
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Infection control professionals attempting to comply with accreditors and do a root-cause analysis of fatal nosocomial infections must set narrow patient definitions and work closely with their quality improvement colleagues if any meaningful prevention data are to come out of the controversial initiative, an ICP warned.
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As many as 170 hospitals could be subject to wall-to-wall inspections this year under the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administrations targeted inspection program.
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Surface contamination may be an important method of transmission of the virus that causes severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), according to investigations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in Atlanta.
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Reports of possible hospital transmission of monkeypox once again highlight the risk of newly emerging infectious diseases for health care workers and the need for vigilant infection control and swift identification of cases.
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As cases of severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) decline worldwide, questions remain about one of the major tools for protecting health care workers: Just how effective is the N95 filtering facepiece respirator?
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Overview: The goal of the surveillance, prevention, and control of infection function is to identify and reduce risks of acquiring and transmitting infections among and between patients, staff, physicians and other licensed independent practitioners, contract service workers, volunteers, students, and visitors. Surveillance, prevention, and control of infection covers a broad range of processes and activities, both in direct patient care and in patient care support, that are coordinated and carried out by the hospital.
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Bioterrorism has changed the way the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention communicates with clinicians for the better.
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The risk of acquiring HIV infection from occupational exposures may be even lower than the three in 1,000 rate that is commonly cited.