Safe Healthcare Blog

Hosted by CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion. If you have questions or comments about healthcare safety topics, please contact CDC-INFO at https://wwwn.cdc.gov/dcs/ContactUs/Form.

Healthcare Worker Vaccination is Important for Respiratory Virus Season 2024

Healthcare worker rolls up her sleeve to show bandaid after getting vaccination

Respiratory virus season is here. As a healthcare worker, you play a critical role in slowing and preventing the spread of viral respiratory infections, including flu and COVID-19. Like hand hygiene, personal protective equipment (PPE), and environmental cleaning and disinfection, vaccination is a critical tool in our infection control toolbox. Getting vaccinated in combination with Read More >

Posted on by Janet Glowicz, PhD, RN, Infection Preventionist with Project Firstline in CDC’s Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion1 CommentTags ,

Dentists: Improve patient safety by optimizing antibiotic prescribing

Dr. Erinne Kennedy is smiling wearing a purple blazer and a white collared shirt underneath. The background is faded.

Dentists prescribe approximately 10% of all outpatient antibiotics in the United States.1 Many of these antibiotic prescriptions may not be needed based on existing guidelines. Studies show that patients with total joint replacement (TJR) commonly receive unnecessary antibiotic prophylaxis [PDF – 1 Page] despite clinical practice guidelines from the American Dental Association (ADA) and American Academy of Read More >

Posted on by Erinne Kennedy, DMD, MPH, MMSc3 CommentsTags

Effective diagnostic processes and patient safety means not having to ask “What if”

Col. Steven L. Coffee

“What If” I was seen, heard, and treated like a partner? Regarded as the greatest English novelist during the Victorian Era, Charles Dickens once said, “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness.” Those words never rang truer than Read More >

Posted on by Col. Steven L. Coffee2 CommentsTags ,

World Sepsis Day 2024: Focus on Protecting Children from Sepsis

Nicole Gladden

For the last seven years, Get Ahead of Sepsis has encouraged patients, their loved ones, and healthcare professionals to know the risks, spot the signs and symptoms, and act fast if they suspect sepsis during Sepsis Awareness Month and year-round. Anyone can get an infection, and almost any infection can lead to sepsis. Some people Read More >

Posted on by Nicole Gladden5 CommentsTags

In case you missed it: August HICPAC Public Meeting Recap

Sydnee Byrd at the HICPAC meeting on August 22, 2024

The Healthcare Infection Control Practices Advisory Committee (HICPAC) held a public meeting August 22, 2024, in Atlanta, GA. Official meeting minutes will be available on the HICPAC website soon. Until then, here is a summary of key issues from the day’s discussion. Watch recording of the live public webcast: HICPAC Meeting – Aug. 22, 2024 Read More >

Posted on by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)3 CommentsTags