Bloodstream Infections

In the Aftermath of 2008 CMS Rule, Hospitals Seek to Prevent Infections, Retain Reimbursement

It has been about 14 months since a new directive from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) went into effect Oct. 1, 2008, essentially declaring that Medicare will no longer reimburse hospitals for extra costs related to certain infections acquired during a ...More
December 18, 2009
Posted in Articles
Fatty Food Can Weaken the Immune System

Fresh evidence that fatty food is bad for our health has come to light: mice fed a lard-based diet over a long period got worse at fighting bacteria in the blood, reveals a thesis from the Sahlgrenska Academy.The mice fed the lard-based diet derived 60 per cent of their ...More
December 8, 2009
Posted in News
Antiviral Therapy to Treat Hepatitis C is Declining in the U.S.

Researchers from the University of Michigan determined that only 663,000 of the approximately 3.9 million Americans with hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection received antiviral therapy between 2002 and 2007. Treatment rates appear to be declining, in part because only half of ...More
November 24, 2009
Posted in News
Sharklet Technologies Awarded Innovation Research Grant for Development of Urinary Catheter with Biofilm-Resistant Micro-Pattern

Sharklet Technologies, Inc. today announced that it has been awarded a $168,000 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I grant by the National Institutes of Health/National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases to develop a urinary catheter with ...More
November 16, 2009
Posted in News, Disinfection & Sterilization
HHS Awards $17 Million in New Initiative to Fight HAIs

HHS Secretary Kathleen Sebelius has announced the award of $17 million to fund projects to fight costly and dangerous healthcare-associated infections (HAIs). "When patients go to the hospital, they expect to get better, not worse," Sebelius said. "Eliminating infections is ...More
October 26, 2009
Posted in News
Designing a Getting-to-Zero Program That Works for You: A Focus on Process Improvement

Building on Our Successes to Leverage Momentum, Gain Buy-In and Foster AccountabilityThe journey to zero began in 1998 for BJC HealthCare and the BJC Infection Control and Healthcare Epidemiology Consortium. Education had a huge impact in reducing central line-associated ...More
October 15, 2009
Posted in Articles
Should Low-Risk MRSA Patients be Screened?

In an Oct. 8 guest editorial in the British Medical Journal, Michael Millar, a consultant microbiologist in the Department of Infection at The London NHS Trust, asks, “Should we screen low-risk patients for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus?” Millar ...More
October 13, 2009
Posted in News
Investigation of Contaminated Heparin Syringes Highlights Medication Safety Issues

An outbreak of bloodstream infections appears to have been caused by the contamination of pre-filled heparin and saline syringes made by a single company, according to a report in the Oct. 12 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine. The subsequent investigation revealed that ...More
October 12, 2009
Posted in News, Disinfection & Sterilization, PPE & Standard Precautions
Preventing Medical Errors: Avoid Blame Game, but Punish Habitual Offenders

Patient safety experts at Johns Hopkins and elsewhere are taking their prescription for avoiding medical errors in hospital care one step beyond already successful “no fault, no blame” approaches, calling now for penalties for doctors and nurses who fail to ...More
October 1, 2009
Posted in News, Hand Hygiene
Winning the War on CLABSIs: The Role of Education and New Technology

Although progress has been made in many areas, central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) remain a national healthcare problem of crisis proportions. The stakes for healthcare institutions that haven’t effectively addressed CLABSIs continue to mount. The ...More
September 24, 2009
Posted in Articles, Disinfection & Sterilization, Hand Hygiene