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In a finding that will increase national calls for oversight of ambulatory care settings, seven patients reportedly acquired hepatitis C infection while undergoing stress tests at a cardiology practice in Larinburgh, NC.
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Success has raised the bar. No sooner did infection preventionists (IPs) begin demonstrating that it was actually possible to drive certain infection rates down to a vanishing point when federal payers essentially said, "Good, keep them at zero because we are not paying for them."
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The Joint Commission new national patient safety goal to prevent surgical-site infections (SSIs; NPSG.07.05.01) includes a requirement to look for SSIs out to 30 days after the procedure raising the difficult but critical issue of post- discharge surveillance.
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The Joint Commission new 2009 national patient safety goal to prevent central line-associated bloodstream infections (CA-BSIs; NPSG.07.04.01) calls for use of use of a common-sense but once controversial checklist to ensure a standardized protocol is followed for central venous catheter insertion.
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The Minnesota Department of Health recommends the following for discontinuing contact isolation and "removing patient flags" for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus:
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As the Joint Commission makes preventing surgical-site infections (SSIs) a national patient safety goal next year some infection preventionists may be more ready than others to meet the full panoply of phased-in requirements.
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How serious did Charlotte, NC-based Novant Health decide to take MRSA infections after an outbreak among premature infants left the hospital with two dead babies? Posters went up on the walls that featured a child in a hospital bed with the caption, "You could kill him with your bare hands."
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One of the leading hospitals in the country has slashed infection rates with an approach called "positive deviance" (PD) that encourages frontline workers to share novel solutions to day-to-day problems.
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An increasing number of hospitals are applying an exotic-sounding philosophy to solve an all too ordinary problem: patient infections with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).
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Conceding that there is too much debate and controversy about the practice, the Joint Commission has dropped a proposed requirement in its 2009 patient safety goals to conduct active surveillance cultures (ASC) for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA).