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Empowering Patient Health: What Should Patients and Caregivers Know About Staying Healthy While in the HospitalOral care is vital in reducing hospital-acquired pneumonia risks. Health care workers' education, evidence-based protocols, and accessible supplies enhance patient outcomes and prevent complications in health care settings.
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Navigating Infection Prevention Challenges Amid 2024 Outbreaks: Strategies for SuccessAs infectious diseases resurge in 2024, this article explores how IPs can manage outbreaks, allocate resources, use technology for surveillance, and collaborate with senior leaders to ensure business continuity and patient safety in health care settings.
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Continuously Active Disinfectants Can Keep COVID at BayCharles P. Gerba, PhD: “Unfortunately, standard procedures for testing and registration by regulatory agencies of CADs (continuously active sanitizers or disinfectants) as disinfectants useful in preventing exposure to disease causing microorganism transmission has only taken place in recent years.”
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As HAIs Rise, New Methods of Counterattack SoughtEven the most rigorous infection prevention protocols come unraveled if compliance isn’t maintained. The challenge is that for busy health care professionals, remembering when and how to disinfect is just one of many competing tasks in an extremely busy day.
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Addressing Post-COVID Challenges: The Urgent Need for Enhanced Hospital Reporting MetricsExplore why CMS must expand COVID-19, influenza, and RSV reporting to include hospital-onset infections, health care worker cases, and ER trends, driving proactive prevention and patient safety.
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Keeping the Stethoscope, the Clinician’s Third Hand, CleanStethoscope diaphragms are contaminated with the same pathogens as the hands and they are capable of transmitting pathogens from patient to patient. The CDC should readdress its published guidelines.
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Infection Control in Pediatrics: Primary Preventions to Promote Child HealthInfection prevention in pediatrics is crucial to keep babies and children healthy. Some of the main tools are hand washing and vaccinations; however, there is more to do.
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Environmental Hygiene Industry Leaders Converge to Discuss BPR RegulationsEllie Wishart, BSc, Real World Evidence Manager at Ecolab discusses the role of industry partners in the Clean Hospitals initiative and taking part in the International Clean Hospitals Day Conference in Geneva, Switzerland, on October 20, 2022.
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Most Decontamination Methods for N95s Seem to WorkThe shape and material composition of the N95 respirators varied widely from manufacturer to manufacturer, which can result in variations in the efficacy of a particular method from one product to the next.
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Spring Into Safety: How Seasonal Deep Cleaning Strengthens Hospital Infection ControlRooted in ancient rituals of renewal, spring-cleaning has evolved from cultural tradition to a vital infection prevention strategy in modern hospitals—one that blends seasonal deep cleaning with advanced disinfection to reduce pathogens, improve air quality, and protect patients.
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The Problem(s) With Candida auris: What IPs and EVS Personnel Should KnowEven during the COVID-19 pandemic, infection preventionists, nurses, environmental services personnel, and other health care workers cannot forget about C auris.
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Pandemic Places Importance of Preventing Environmental Infection at Center StageIPs can provide valuable input on construction projects, water safety, and ventilation.
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Managing Infection During Delivery: Protecting Maternal and Neonatal Well-BeingDuring delivery, babies can acquire infections if they come into contact with pathogens present in the birth canal or from the mother’s genital tract.
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World Hepatitis Day: The Fight ContinuesThis Sunday, July 28, is World Hepatitis Day, a time to raise awareness and support research for infection prevention and treatment.
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Ultrasound in Percutaneous Procedures: One Size Does Not Fit All for ReprocessingAccurate device information and proper sterilization or disinfection are crucial to ensure safety during ultrasound procedures.
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Lassa Fever: What Is It, and How Do We Fight It?Lassa fever causes 5000 deaths a year. What should health care workers and the public know about this rare disease, and what is done to treat it?
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Silent Threat: The Overlooked Infection Crisis in Dialysis PatientsPatients undergoing dialysis are especially vulnerable to infection due to weakened immunity, invasive access procedures, and frequent hospitalizations, making stringent infection control essential.
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How to Be Confident in Your Disinfection: UV-C Disinfection, Dosimeter Cards, and AuditsRecent research in the American Journal of Infection Control reveals gaps in routine hospital disinfection, highlighting the need for UV-C audits. Learn how to validate UV-C dosages effectively and conduct successful audits.
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What Flat Earthers Can Teach Public Health ExpertsWill Duffy’s Final Experiment highlights the importance of experience in changing minds. Public health can use similar methods to improve vaccine confidence and counter misinformation.
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What You Need to Know About 3 Rare Infectious Eye DiseasesEric D. Donnenfeld, MD, discusses 3 uncommon yet highly infectious eye diseases, emphasizing the importance of timely treatment and preventative measures.
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The Key to Sterile Processing Success: Leadership Engagement and Team CollaborationEffective sterile processing leadership requires active engagement, clear communication, and a transformational approach to foster collaboration, accountability, and quality in infection prevention and surgical instrument management.
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Alcohol-Based Hand Sanitizers Ineffective Against Norovirus: Effective Alternatives and Infection Control StrategiesAlcohol-based hand sanitizers do not protect against norovirus, a highly contagious virus. Effective alternatives like hypochlorous acid-based sanitizers are crucial for better infection control.
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5 Advantages of automating the manual procedures in your ultrasound probe reprocessing workflowAutomation of probe reprocessing can have multiple benefits for patients, clinicians and facilities, including improvements in efficiency, accuracy, compliance, standardization and safety. When considering process options for high level disinfection of ultrasound probes, automated systems can be an efficient and cost-effective way to prevent patients from the risk of infection. It’s time to work smarter, safer, happier, more efficiently, and accurately… not harder.
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The 90’s Club: A Successful Hand Hygiene Adherence CampaignThe "90’s SwipeSense Club" significantly improved hand hygiene adherence at Novant Health Thomasville Medical Center. By incentivizing adherence through 1990s-themed rewards and using SwipeSense technology to track hygiene practices, the hospital increased adherence rates from 53% in 2021 to 84% by May 2024.
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Development of a Novel Influenza A Standard Operating Procedure to Fulfill Public Health Reporting RequirementsRobust infectious disease surveillance, including rapid subtyping of influenza A, is essential for early detection, containment, and public health reporting of novel viral threats.
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How to Become a Certified Infection PreventionistInfection prevention certification is not what it used to be—it is more valuable. It’s not for a few experts; it’s for the frontline IP in any health care setting that chooses to demonstrate competency.
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How Climate Change Impact Is Changing Infectious Disease PatternsPeter Rabinowitz, MD, MPH, discusses how climate change, including extreme weather and temperature shifts, is reshaping the spread of infectious diseases like dengue, leptospirosis, and Valley fever.
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Beating Biofilm Is Key to Fighting Surgical InfectionsAt the intersection of surgery and infection prevention resides a sometimes-neglected opportunity to further minimize infection risk by modernizing choices and innovation.
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Infection Control Today Exclusive: The Challenge of Health Care-Associated Infections (HAIs) and Evolving Prevention: A Focus on Hand HygieneHealth care-associated infections (HAIs) significantly impact patient outcomes, hospital expenses, and mortality rates in the United States. Hand hygiene stands as the most effective preventive method. While manual observation often produces biased results, Electronic Hand Hygiene Monitoring Systems (EHHCM) offer evolving methods for more accurate adherence assessment.
