Bloodstream Infections

Behavioral Issues Drive Hand Hygiene Compliance

Since the age of Ignaz Semmelweiss, healthcare practitioners have been admonished to cleanse their hands before coming in contact with patients. While common sense dictated hand hygiene for decades, it wasn’t until 1981 that the Centers for Disease Control and ...More
May 28, 2009
Posted in Articles, Hand Hygiene
The Translation of Evidence-Based Practice Guidelines to Reduce CRBSIs: Does Ambiguity Play a Role?

The increased attention to patient safety in healthcare facilities has been driven by regulatory agencies, advocacy groups, litigators and most importantly, the patients themselves. This attention has been welcomed by infection preventionists who focus on the improvement of ...More
May 27, 2009
Posted in Articles
Combining Commitment and Technology to Control the Transmission of Acinetobacter

Acinetobacter and Long-term Acute CareLong-term acute care hospitals (LTACHs) provide an important segment in the continuum of care for a small population (estimated 2 percent to 3 percent) of acute care patients.1 These patients are medically complex, and are dependent on ...More
May 27, 2009
Posted in Articles, Disinfection & Sterilization, Environmental Hygiene
Gram-Negative Rods in Neonatal ICUs

Researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) have found a high frequency of multidrug-resistant Gram-negative rods (GNRs) in two of the largest neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) in the city of Manila, Philippines. Improved infection control methods could ...More
May 15, 2009
Posted in News
Breakthrough in the Treatment of Bacterial Meningitis

It can take just hours after the symptoms appear for someone to die from bacterial meningitis. Now, after years of research, experts at The University of Nottingham have finally discovered how the deadly meningococcal bacteria is able to break through the body’s ...More
May 13, 2009
Posted in News
Ongoing CRBSI Prevention Efforts Key Even as New Data Show Decrease in Rates

The toll that catheter-related bloodstream infections (CRBSIs) exact on human life and the costs they add to healthcare are significant. Attributable mortality from CRBSIs is an estimated 12 percent to 25 percent for each infection, and the marginal cost to the healthcare ...More
March 30, 2009
Posted in Articles, Hand Hygiene, PPE & Standard Precautions
Project to Study Methods to Reduce Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections in Hospital ICUs

Hospital associations in 10 states have been selected to participate in a program to test methods of reducing central line-associated bloodstream infections in hospital intensive care units (ICUs), according to HHS’ Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality. The ...More
March 30, 2009
Posted in Articles
A Fast Magnetic Fix for Sepsis?

In the micromagnetic-microfluidic blood cleansing device, saline collection fluid and contaminated blood with opsonized pathogens flow together without mixing under laminar conditions. As the fluids pass the external magnetic field concentrator, opsonized pathogens and ...More
March 25, 2009
Posted in News
Use of Antibacterial Linked With Reduced Risk of Catheter-Related Infections

For critically ill patients in intensive care units, use of a sponge containing the antimicrobial agent chlorhexidine gluconate as part of the dressing for catheters reduced the risk of major catheter-related infections, according to a study in the March 25 issue of JAMA. ...More
March 24, 2009
Posted in News
Multi-Pronged Approach Eliminates Central Line-Associated Bloodstream Infections

Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSI) fell by more than 90 percent during the past three years at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania due to a multi-pronged approach combining leadership initiatives, electronic infection surveillance, checklists ...More
March 20, 2009
Posted in News, Hand Hygiene