Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI)

Despite the best intentions, hospital accreditation surveys have become a breeding ground for low expectations.

Gonzalo Bearman, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, and hospital epidemiologist, Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Virginia Commonwealth University, discusses contact precautions for patients with Clostridium difficile.

Nicola Thompson, PhD, Epidemiologist, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), discusses the next step in implementing a prevalence survey to estimate national burden of HAIs in US nursing homes.

We are adding 2 more reasons to the 7 reasons we are more at risk than ever for a global pandemic.

Using a model implemented in Europe in 2013 to estimate HAI prevalence by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC), Nicola Thompson, PhD, CDC, and her team estimated the national burden of HAIs in US nursing homes. In their poster, Dr. Thompson and her colleagues reported preliminary data from their pilot study.

Do some healthcare-associated infections receive more attention at your institution than others? Has your institution committed to using single-use medical devices to stave off infections? The editorial staff at Contagion® wants your feedback. Please take this brief survey to weigh-in.

Matt Linam, MD, MS, Assistant Professor, Pediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, explains the impact of respiratory viral infections in children.

Lauri A. Hicks, DO, Director, Office of Antibiotic Stewardship, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, discusses the potential consequences of prescribing unneeded antibiotics.

Contagion® recently spoke with Carissa Holmes, MPH, CDC, who discussed how policy change can work to strengthen infection prevention practices.

Belinda Ostrowsky, MD, MPH, Health Systems Director of Epidemiology, Antimicrobial Stewardship & Infection Prevention, Montefiore Medical Center, and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses five stewardship strategies to help reduce healthcare-associated Clostridium difficile rates.

In case you missed them, here are our top 5 articles for the week of April 16, 2017.

Matt Linam, MD, MS, Assistant Professor, Pediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, explains a strategy used at his healthcare facility to prevent respiratory viral HAIs in children.

Are efforts to back infection prevention studies biasing long-term efforts?

Researchers collected biofilms from several hospitals in four non-neighboring countries to determine if the persistence of multidrug-resistant organisms in biofilms on hospital surfaces was a worldwide problem.

Matt Linam, MD, MS, Assistant Professor, Pediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, explains how families and visitors can play a role in transmitting healthcare-associated infections.

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the endoscopy suite...

At the SHEA Spring 2017 Conference, Laurie Conway, RN, PhD, CIC, provided conference goers with options that will allow them to “pick their battles” when it comes to ensuring effective surveillance targets.

Gonzalo Bearman, MD, MPH, professor of medicine, and hospital epidemiologist, Department of Internal Medicine and Infectious Diseases, Virginia Commonwealth University, discusses the aggressiveness of infection prevention strategies to stop Clostridium difficile outbreaks.

Belinda Ostrowsky, MD, MPH, Health Systems Director of Epidemiology, Antimicrobial Stewardship & Infection Prevention, Montefiore Medical Center, and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, discusses limitations to C. difficile testing that could impact stewardship practices in healthcare facilities.

Top-line results of a phase 3 clinical study show that omadacycline met all US Food and Drug Administration primary and secondary endpoints and European Medicines Agency co-primary endpoints.

Research coming in from the University of Texas Health Science Center at Houston shows that when it comes to treating those with C. difficile, frozen and freeze-dried products for Fecal Microbiota Transplantation are nearly as effective as fresh product.

Patient advocate Liz Kruvand brought a fresh perspective to the SHEA Spring 2017 Conference when she discussed her own trials and tribulations with infection prevention in the pediatric hospital setting.

On March 30, 2017, at the SHEA Spring 2017 Conference, Thomas Sandora, MD, MPH, shared some tips regarding ways to manage movement outside of the room for patients who are on contact precautions.

Belinda Ostrowsky, MD, MPH, Health Systems Director of Epidemiology, Antimicrobial Stewardship & Infection Prevention, Montefiore Medical Center, and Associate Professor of Clinical Medicine, Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, explains how to be more sensible when it comes to testing for Clostridium difficile.

Matt Linam, MD, MS, Assistant Professor, Pediatric Infectious Diseases, University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, explains the best ways to reduce the number of respiratory viral healthcare-associated infections in children.

On March 30, 2017, at the SHEA Spring 2017 Conference, Matt Linam, MD, MS, discussed strategies to prevent healthcare workers from spreading healthcare-associated infections (HAIs).

Snigdha Vallabhaneni, MD, MPH, Medical Epidemiologist, Mycotic Diseases Branch at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, discusses the threat that is Candida auris.

Nimalie Stone, MD, MS, Team Lead, LTC, Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, explores the differences in infrastructure for clinical care and infection prevention in post–acute care and long-term care settings as compared to acute care hospitals.

Recent research has found that a surprising drug combo might be the key to fighting multidrug-resistant bacteria.

New research shows that continuation of statins among patients Staphylococcus aureus bacteremia who were receiving the therapy before infection significantly lowered the risk of 30-day mortality.