Hospital Infection Control & Prevention
RSSArticles
-
Consumer group: Why leave chlorhexidine out?
The FDA is being taken to task for a failure to include chlorhexidine in its recently announced plan to review the safety of active ingredients in antiseptics used in healthcare.
-
FDA concerned with alcohol exposures to pregnant, breast feeding healthcare workers
As hand hygiene is performed constantly throughout a hospital workday a small level of alcohol may begin to accumulate and flow through the bloodstream. No problem for most workers, but what about those expecting? -
CMS calls for infection control improvements, antibiotic stewardship in nursing homes
A proposed rule by the CMS calls for a sweeping upgrade of infection control in nursing homes, solidifying the role with a new title and making it a higher priority through annual risk assessments and much-needed antibiotic stewardship requirements. -
CDC bases infection projections on modeling
Some of the case count projections cited by CDC and others at the early stages of the Ebola outbreak turned out to be greatly overestimated, contributing to the perception by some that ratcheting up the fear level was designed to get the full support needed for the outbreak response. In this case, the CDC has collaborated with other researchers and used modeling methods already developed and time tested.
-
New CDC efforts to detect and prevent CRE and C. difficile
The CDC's new plan to create state networks of public health and healthcare facilities to prevent Carbapenem-resistant Enterobacteriaceae and Clostridium difficile infections.
-
CDC calls on Congress to fund “protection” programs, save lives
An estimated 37,000 people are going to die in the next five years of antibiotic-resistant and Clostridium difficile infections unless Congress hands over $264 million dollars to the suddenly unsubtle CDC.
-
Clostridium difficile causing some 8,700 fatal infections in long-term care annually
C. diff is becoming a leading killer in nursing homes, as residents predisposed to the brutal infection by antibiotic treatments in both hospitals and long-term care settings succumb to this opportunistic gut dweller.
-
APIC looks to frame the future, empower IP
At risk of being overwhelmed by data collection demands, infection preventionists are also arguably at their highest profile in the field’s history in a time of Ebola, MERS, and the threat of other emerging infections and pandemics. Real reductions in healthcare infections once considered inevitable are proving possible for those that can find the time and resources to intervene and implement prevention strategies. For today’s IP, the opposite poles are the infamous silo and the patient bedside.
-
With TB at a record low in U.S., OSHA ramps up inspections in healthcare
OSHA — which lost an epic battle with the infection control community to adopt a separate tuberculosis standard more than a decade ago — has decided to put TB back on its radar and update compliance requirements for healthcare settings.
-
A 58% mortality rate: 509 healthcare workers have died in Ebola outbreak in West Africa
During the historic Ebola outbreak in West Africa that is now making its last stand, 509 healthcare workers gave their lives trying to save others. The deaths translate to a mortality rate of 58% of the 875 healthcare workers infected as of July 5, 2015, the WHO reports.