Infection Control
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CDC Drops Routine Annual Tuberculosis Testing of Healthcare Workers
The agency is dropping routine screening in favor of testing on hire, and after TB exposure or ongoing transmission. In updating 2005 TB guidelines, the CDC screening change was expected as the disease continues to decline nationally and healthcare workers appear to be at no greater risk of transmission than the general public.
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Surgeons’ Negative Attitudes Can Lead to Higher Infection Rates
“Surgeons who model unprofessional behaviors may help to undermine a culture of safety, threaten teamwork, and thereby increase risk for medical errors and surgical complications," according to authors of a recent study.
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Infection Prevention: The Past Is Prelude
Looking to the past and the present, Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) President Karen Hoffmann, RN, MS, CIC, FSHEA, FAPIC, recently gave a keynote address in Philadelphia at the annual APIC conference. Hoffman also is an infection prevention consultant for the Survey and Certification Group at the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services and a clinical instructor in the division of infectious diseases at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine.
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FDA Alert: Fatal Infection Following Fecal Transplant
Multidrug-resistant organisms are infecting new patients via transplantation, putting recipients at risk of infections and threatening to spur larger hospital outbreaks. Two recently reported incidents underscore the threat, with one described in an alert by the FDA about fecal microbiota transplantation to treat Clostridioides difficile infections.
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FDA: Hospitals Could Face Shortages of Sterile Supplies
The emission of ethylene oxide from sterilization facilities into surrounding communities has raised cancer concerns, warnings, and closures that threaten the critical flow of sterile supplies in healthcare, the FDA reports. Infection preventionists should keep communication channels open with central sterile supply and other key colleagues to ensure spot shortages of equipment do not pose a threat to patient safety.
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Meeting the Challenge of Sterilizing Duodenoscopes
Infection preventionists and central sterile supply technicians must work together to protect patients from duodenoscopes that could remain contaminated after reprocessing. That is the take-home message from a comprehensive program that shows it can be done.
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EDs, Community Partners Play Central Role in Slashing HIV Diagnoses in San Francisco
An initiative that began five years ago in San Francisco has resulted in a dramatic reduction of new HIV diagnoses in the region. In the first half of 2018, there were just 81 new HIV diagnoses, according to the latest data. Further, investigators report that the number of deaths attributable to HIV has declined by more than 50%. The city’s success in addressing the HIV epidemic is largely attributable to the collective efforts of Getting to Zero San Francisco, a multisector consortium that aims to reduce HIV infections, deaths, and stigma to meet aggressive 90-90-90 goals,
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Adequate Staffing Protects Patients and Workers
Nurses fighting to improve inadequate staffing levels at hospitals often cite patient safety, which holds a high moral ground while also speaking directly to the bottom-line concerns of the C-suite. As staff ratio laws are debated in various states, a new study might be presented as evidence of the issue.
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Healthcare Workers Are Working Sick During Flu Season
The CDC reminds the public every influenza season that those infected can spread the virus one day before symptoms appear. Yet, even when the first symptoms occur, healthcare workers may continue working with acute respiratory illness.