Categories: CLABSI, Healthcare-associated infections, NHSN
February 8th, 2012 11:16 am ET -
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Daniel Pollock, MD
Author: Dan Pollock
CDC, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Surveillance Branch Chief
CMS announced today that its Hospital Compare website now includes central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) data reported from hospital ICUs to CDC’s National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN). In many places, this is the first time consumers can see how well their local hospitals prevent CLABSIs, one of the most deadly and preventable healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).
These data reflect hospital performance during the first quarter of 2011. In many cases, there was not enough data to produce a valid score for a specific hospital. As new data are added each quarter to Hospital Compare, enough information will be available to report accurate measures for more hospitals. A view of statewide progress is also available, based on data from hospitals that participate in CMS’s Value-Based Purchasing program.
Consumers are encouraged to research their local hospitals on Hospital Compare and use the information as a discussion point with their healthcare providers. The information should not be used as the sole factor in choice of hospital.
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Categories: Hand Hygiene
January 23rd, 2012 12:29 pm ET -
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Art of Washing Hands
Guest Author – Bill Sleeper
Georgia-Pacific Professional
Each year, more than 200,000 people are hospitalized with the flu and 36,000 die from complications of the virus, according to the CDC. While it may seem like a mundane daily task, washing your hands is the single most effective way to prevent the spread of disease.
As a leading provider of hygienic washroom solutions, Georgia-Pacific Professional is committed to educating citizens about proper hand hygiene practices. Our ongoing efforts are showcased through a variety of campaigns, activities and initiatives that teach and remind people of all ages about the importance of hand washing and drying. Entering its third year, our Art of Washing Hands program features a karate-themed Mo – Georgia-Pacific Professional’s VP of Hygiene and Chairman of Cool – to educate kids about the importance of hand hygiene in a fun, interactive way. Last year we launched Spread Wellness, a campaign aimed at teaching people proper hand washing techniques and encouraging them to share these practices wherever they go.
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Categories: Antimicrobial Resistance, Clostridium difficile
January 17th, 2012 12:41 pm ET -
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Clifford McDonald, MD
Author – Clifford McDonald MD
Prevention and Response Branch Chief
CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion
Transplanting feces from one human to another may sound repulsive, but for patients suffering from recurrent, debilitating diarrhea caused by Clostridium difficile, a fecal transplant offers a ray of hope.
It increasingly appears that fecal transplants are effective in treating recurrent CDI. Though we await randomized controlled trials to confirm signs of efficacy, we at CDC are heartened by this potential treatment. Also, we are encouraged by our rapidly increasing understanding of the human microbiome, a term that refers to the entire population of microorganisms living on or inside us and all the genetic information possessed by these microorganisms.
In a recent paper in Clinical Infectious Diseases, Dr. Pritish Tosh and I lay out a framework for the importance of a healthy intestinal microbiome to fight off a large and growing number of multidrug-resistant organisms (MDROs). We believe that the main effect of antibiotics resulting in drug-resistant organisms is “selective pressure on the human microbiome.” When antibiotics wipe out the good bacteria of the microbiome, those bacteria are replaced by organisms that survived the antibiotic treatment, namely MDROs. Once colonization with resistant organisms has occurred, these bad bugs can multiply and, in some cases, cause untreatable or severe infections. These infections include colitis from C. difficile, in addition to bloodstream infections, pneumonias and other serious infections caused by MDROs.
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Categories: Healthcare-associated infections
January 12th, 2012 6:56 am ET -
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Norovirus poster
Authors Tara MacCannell, PhD [1], Ben Lopman, PhD [2]
[1] Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
[2] Division of Viral Diseases, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
Winter is prime time for norovirus outbreaks. Norovirus strikes swiftly, causing acute gastroenteritis and usually involves rapid-onset diarrhea, vomiting, and nausea. Sometimes it is accompanied by fever and dehydration. People get infected with norovirus by ingesting it through norovirus-contaminated hands, food, or droplets from vomit. The virus is incredibly infectious, and even if you’ve had the infection in the past, you can still get sick. Unfortunately, immunity is not long-lasting.
Norovirus is the most common cause of gastroenteritis outbreaks in the U.S., and the majority of outbreaks are reported from healthcare settings, both long term care facilities and hospitals. Since norovirus can spread very quickly, many people can become infected within a matter of a few days. This is particularly concerning in healthcare settings, as staff, patients, and visitors are all at risk for infection.
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Categories: Injection Safety
January 6th, 2012 7:58 am ET -
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Michael R. Cohen, RPh, MS, ScD, FASHP
Author – Michael R. Cohen, RPh, MS, ScD, FASHP
President, Institute for Safe Medication Practices
There’s an alarming and widespread misunderstanding about insulin pens by some healthcare workers who work in hospitals: that sterility can be maintained between patients simply by affixing a fresh needle on a previously used pen. Despite numerous warnings from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), CDC, the Institute for Safe Medication Practices (ISMP), and insulin pen manufacturers themselves, evidence continues to mount that this dangerous practice is adversely affecting thousands of patients (Read recent clinical reminder).
Just this past month we received two new reports in which a nurse knowingly used the same insulin pen for more than one patient. As is typical in these scenarios, the nurses thought the practice was acceptable if they simply changed the needle between patients and kept the same insulin pen. In one of these cases it was later determined that the original patient had human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)! Follow-up tests were being conducted on the affected patient. The nurse involved in the event reported that sharing insulin pens was routine practice at another hospital where she had worked, as long as new needles were used. In the other report, two pens were used to administer insulin to three patients in an inpatient setting, even though each pen had a patient-specific label. One of the pens was borrowed from another patient while waiting for the pharmacy to dispense one for a new patient.
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