Hospital Infection Control & Prevention
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IPs Urged to Join Healthcare Sustainability Movement
In the aftermath of a pandemic that drove an astounding increase in single-use medical supplies, the inevitable reckoning and potential partnership between infection prevention and the healthcare environmental sustainability movement has accelerated. The search for common ground is at a critical inflection point.
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New Study: Hospital Surfaces Contaminated After Disinfection
Pathogenic persistence can be a problem even after routine disinfection of high-touch surfaces.
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COVID Shot 54% Effective in Preventing Infection
Immunization with the updated COVID-19 vaccine provided approximately 54% increased protection against symptomatic SARS-CoV-2 infection compared to no receipt of the updated vaccine.
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Seeking Your Own Path? Consider IP Consulting
Infection preventionists who are competent and confident, who can dress sharply and speak well, and are adept and finding and fixing the “core” of a problem, may want to go out on their own and become a consultant.
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Still Standing: Antivaxx Groups Fail to Intimidate Hotez
On Feb. 1, 2022, Peter Hotez, MD, PhD, was nominated, along with a colleague, for the Nobel Peace Prize for their efforts to design and distribute a nonproprietary, free COVID-19 vaccine to impoverished nations globally. The very next day Hotez received an email with the subject line: “You will hang for crimes against humanity.” Hotez recently documented this harassment and attempts at intimidation in his new book, The Deadly Rise of Anti-Science: A Scientist’s Warning.
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The Paramedic’s Tale: From Agony to Activist
In March 2020, Karyn Bishof, BS, had the physical strength and mental wherewithal to be a paramedic at a fire department. Through the close encounters and hands-on care required for the job, Bishof was infected with SARS-CoV-2. Shortly thereafter began the chronic syndromes and the array of neurological and physical conditions collectively called long COVID. Despite her limitations, Bishof founded the COVID-19 Longhauler Advocacy Project and began getting information out to others.
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CDC Halts HICPAC to Review Masks, N95s, Long COVID
Citing pushback from stakeholder groups, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention rejected new recommendations for air transmission precautions by its infection control advisory panel, asking it to consider with expert consultation this question: “Should N95 respirators be recommended for all pathogens that spread by the air?”
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AI: Friend or Foe to IP & C, Healthcare Epidemiology?
Artificial intelligence chatbots, such as Chat Generative Pre-training Transformer (ChatGPT), are thought to have potential to eventually replace some straightforward infectious disease consultations. However, current technology does not yet instill confidence that the use of chatbots will be adequately accurate or safe for complex patient care. In addition, philosophical and ethical constraints raise doubt about the value of replacing specialist physician consultations.
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Denying Religious Exception Proves Costly in Flu Mandate
The line between religious exemption and discrimination was brightly drawn recently by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC). Faced with an EEOC lawsuit regarding an employee denied a religious exemption, an Atlanta pediatric facility settled a religious discrimination lawsuit by agreeing to pay a fired employee $45,000.
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Toothbrushing to Prevent Pneumonia
Oral care, including time-honored toothbrushing, may save a patient’s life from pneumonia of all stripes.