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The Joint Commission's proposed 2009 National Patient Safety Goals include the following new emphasis on infection prevention:
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Surprising research results which have been widely misinterpreted as evidence that hand hygiene has little impact on infection rates more likely reveal that health care infections (HAIs) arise from complex causes and cannot be prevented by a single intervention, the author tells Hospital Infection Control.
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A decision by a federal agency to halt a landmark infection prevention effort continues to create fallout, with the American Hospital Association (AHA) issuing a strongly worded letter protesting the move.
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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is drafting comprehensive new guidelines for urinary tract infections (UTIs), a complication so common and typically treatable that it has been accepted with a sort of benign neglect by the health care system.
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Female physicians have more than twice the rate of suicide as other professional women and are proportionally at greater risk compared with their male physician counterparts.
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Patients with a first VTE event occurring in association with a reversible or time-limited risk factor should be treated with anticoagulants for at least three months, whereas patients with a first PE should be treated for at least six to 12 months; in fact, a case can be made for indefinite anticoagulant therapy in PE patients who have a great concern about recurrent PE and/or who are minimally concerned about the bleeding risk of anticoagulant therapy and the need for frequent determinations of the INR.
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Rosiglitazone (Avandia) implicated in yet another study; Prilosec and Nexium not associated with cardiac events; Anastrozole (Arimidex) shown more effective than tamoxifen for treatment of early-stage breast cancer; antibiotics show no effect on sinusitis; FDA actions.
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The 12-lead ECG and lead II rhythm strip in the Figure were obtained from a 59-year old man several days after coronary bypass. He complained of postitional chest pain. How would you interpret his ECG given this clinical context?