Hospital Infection Control & Prevention
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Improving Infection Prevention by Reforming IT, Electronic Health Records
The challenge to improve the functionality and ease of appropriate use of electronic health records (EHRs) and health information technology (IT) was recently outlined in a draft document by the Department of Health and Human Services. In submitted comments on the draft, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology outlined some of the challenges IPs face in dealing with EHRs and IT. -
Study Finds Only 12.8% of Outpatient Antibiotics Appropriate
While hospitals are trying to rein in antibiotic use, outpatient settings are on the frontier of sorts in the effort to stop the rise of multidrug-resistant bacteria and their possible consequence: untreatable infections. -
NIH Super Sleuths Track Down a Rare Human Pathogen
An outbreak of a rare human pathogen — which was traced to the stagnant water in a newly constructed building a decade earlier — was solved by investigators at the National Institutes of Health Clinical Center using a deep bank of isolates and cutting-edge molecular epidemiology. -
U.S. Caregiver Received Experimental Ebola Vaccine Post Exposure
An American caregiver exposed to the Ebola virus while caring for a patient in Africa was given the new experimental vaccine within 24 hours and subsequently did not develop infection. As is often the case with diseases calling for post-exposure prophylaxis, it cannot be determined whether the vaccine prevented infection or whether the patient would not have developed Ebola regardless. -
CDC Analysis Supports Mandated Drug Stewardship in Hospitals
A new analysis of the immense societal costs of Clostridioides difficile infection may spur the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services to finalize a regulation requiring antibiotic stewardship in hospitals.
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The Joint Commission Warns of ‘Silos’ in CDC Guidelines
While lauding the CDC for its efforts to protect healthcare workers from occupational infections, The Joint Commission took the agency to task for draft guidelines that may have the unintended effect of limiting collaboration and creating “silos” in the work culture.
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The Zombie as a Metaphor for Pandemics
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is drawing attention to emerging infectious disease outbreaks and other mass casualty events through creatures often depicted with voracious appetites and a relentless, limping pursuit of the living: zombies. -
Almost One-Third of Homecare Workers Think Flu Vaccine Unsafe
We continue to be beset with misinformation that undermines uptake of the annual flu vaccine, and that may explain why almost one-third of homecare nurses report that they think the shot is unsafe. -
Hoffmann Takes the Helm at APIC
An infection preventionist with three decades of experience in the field will serve as the 2019 president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology. -
Can Novel Use of Gloves Overcome HH Problems?
With appropriate hand hygiene compliance extremely challenging during anesthesiology practice in the OR, some are considering double gloving or disinfecting gloves while still wearing them as has been done in Ebola outbreaks.