Hospital Infection Control & Prevention
RSSArticles
-
Bare below elbows: Common sense or nonsense?
Is it time for clinicians to lose the white coats, long sleeves, and neckties in favor of bare arms for patient care? Citing anecdotal evidence, common sense, and the limited data available in the absence of clinical trials, the University of Iowa Hospital and Clinics is doing just that beginning January 2016, said Michael Edmond, hospital epidemiologist at the Iowa City facility.
-
Parents of 350 babies warned of possible TB transmission from infected worker
As patient notifications of potential exposures to infectious disease go, it doesn’t get much worse than telling parents their newborn baby may be in danger.
-
Are novel flu vaccines an answer for high-risk patients?
Amid ongoing efforts to get 90% of healthcare workers immunized against seasonal flu by 2020, researchers are seeking to boost the immunity of high-risk patients to protect them from serious and even fatal flu infections in the hospital and the community.
-
VA hospital system may mandate staff flu shots in ‘near future’
With a new study finding that virtually none of the nation’s 150 Veterans Health Administration hospitals have mandatory flu shot policies for healthcare workers — leaving vaccination rates languishing in the 55% range — the VA system is considering a vaccine mandate to protect patients and coworkers, Hospital Infection Control & Prevention has learned.
-
Physicians work when ill, even with confirmed flu
Driven by a traditional work culture that underscores their responsibility to patients and commitment to coworkers, physicians will show up for work symptomatic and sick, even if they have laboratory-confirmed influenza, researchers reported recently in San Diego at the 2015 IDWeek conference.1
-
More than half of IPs given no additional resources
More than a year out from the emergence of Ebola, many infection preventionists report they received no additional resources to deal with the crisis, still lack adequate supplies of personal protective equipment, and remain uncertain about how frequently healthcare workers need to be trained to ensure they are donning and doffing personal protective equipmentcorrectly.
-
Lack of PPE training leads to frequent contamination
A major factor in contamination problems when removing personal protective equipment appears to be the fundamental issue of PPE training — or lack thereof.
-
CDC, FDA warn of surgical infections caused by heater-cooler units
An increase in nontuberculous mycobacteria infections in post-surgical patients has been linked to contaminated water emitted from heater-cooler devices used in surgery. Infection preventionists and their clinical colleagues should immediately review cleaning and disinfection procedures for the devices and ensure only sterile water is used in them, public health agencies advise. -
How Much Is Too Much?
While healthcare workers often contaminate themselves doffing personal protective equipment, there’s interest in scaling back contact precautions.
-
Hospital Wards with Higher Antibiotic Prescribing Rates May Have Associated Increased CDI Risk
SYNOPSIS: A retrospective observational study found that among hospitalized patients, ward-level antibiotic prescribing was associated with a significantly increased risk for Clostridium difficile infection beyond what would be expected with patient-level antibiotic use.