Safe Healthcare Blog
Hand Hygiene CAN Save a Patient’s Life
Author – Victoria Nahum Co-Founder and Director Safe Care Campaign (Atlanta, Georgia) My name is Victoria Nahum. Almost 5 years ago, my husband Armando and I learned the hardest lesson of our lives. We learned that losing our 27 year old son Joshua to a healthcare-associated infection didn’t have to happen; even worse, his untimely Read More >
Posted on byHand Hygiene: Back to Basics in Infection Prevention
Author – Kate Ellingson, Ph.D. CDC Epidemiologist CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotiona Hand hygiene is a simple practice that has been at the core of infection prevention for over 150 years. Yet getting healthcare personnel to follow recommended hand hygiene practices in today’s complex and demanding healthcare environment continues to be a monumental challenge. Read More >
Posted on byNew Clinical Guidelines for MRSA Treatment
Author – Dr. Catherine Liu Assistant Clinical Professor, Division of Infectious Diseases, University of California Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) – both healthcare- and community-associated – has become an enormous public health problem. MRSA is responsible for about 60 percent of skin and soft tissue infections seen in emergency rooms, and invasive MRSA kills about 18,000 Read More >
Posted on by 6 CommentsHow much antibiotic use is too much?
Guest author – Elizabeth Dodds Ashley, PharmD, MHS, FCCP, BCPS Associate Director of Clinical Pharmacy Services and Antimicrobial Stewardship Pharmacist – University of Rochester Medical Center, Rochester, NY Although this question sounds simple on the surface, answering it is one of the biggest challenges to stewardship programs both old and new. Unlike our infection prevention colleagues, Read More >
Posted on by 5 CommentsHand Hygiene: Patients Speak Up – Part 2 of 3
Krissy Brinsley-Rainisch, MPH CDC Health Communications Specialist CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion Performing hand hygiene is a simple, mundane task. It is a very low tech action but has been shown to dramatically reduce healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). Still, there are a multitude of reasons why it isn’t always practiced as recommended: forgetfulness, too busy, Read More >
Posted on by 40 Comments