Infection Control Today, November 2021 (Vol. 25 No. 9)

October 18, 2021

Brian Flannigan: “The reason why water quality and water safety is so important in sterile processing is that there have been direct connections made between the water systems and hospital infections: operating room infections, asset life problems, maintenance problems, staining and discoloration of equipment.”

October 18, 2021

IAHCSMM’s Damien Berg: “COVID-19 put a light on sterile processing professionals in a positive way. We became a force multiplier in the hospital by the things we did. And we got known.”

October 15, 2021

If we want to see sustained improvements in our hospitals, administrators must step in and visibly show their support of IPs while investing their time, resources, and hospital funding to increase the capacity of the IPC department.

October 12, 2021

Infection preventionists and other health care providers need masks that can easily be fit-tested or are more moldable to ensure a good seal—Saskia v. Popescu, PhD, MPH, MA, CIC.

October 06, 2021

Preliminary data for the last quarter of 2020 revealed a jump of 34% in methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) compared with the same quarter in 2019. Several states had much higher increases. In Arizona, for instance, rates leapt 80%; in New Jersey, that figure was 99%.

September 30, 2021

Pro: Health care professionals work around vulnerable patients, and in environments that might be contaminated by COVID-19. Con: Patients want to see their caregiver’s face.

September 27, 2021

Joshua Nosanchuk, MD, Programs Chairperson for ID Week: “What the infection preventionists are doing I think is a true blessing for our community. And not always as well recognized as it should be…. I just want to say thank you to all the people that are doing this work.”

September 24, 2021

Infection preventionists across health care settings struggle with a myriad of problems during this pandemic. IPs at nursing homes have it particularly hard.

September 20, 2021

The allocations are scheduled to begin next month, with initial awards totaling $885, of which $500 million will go to what the CDC calls “strike teams” that will focus on nursing homes and other long-term care facilities.

September 17, 2021

Patients with abnormally low blood pressure were less likely to receive antibiotics even though they could benefit from such treatment, according to a recent study.

September 16, 2021

The National Institutes of Health yesterday unveiled a $470 million study that it hopes will mine data from 30,000–40,000 people who suffer from long COVID. Right now, there are more questions than answers.

September 15, 2021

Vaccines work. They ward off severe illness and death. But they do not make health care workers invulnerable to breakthrough infections, according to a research letter in JAMA Open Network.

September 14, 2021

Investigators used acetone-washed, pre-autoclaved stainless-steel coupons coated with reformulated quaternary ammonium polymer to keep deadly pathogens at bay.