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Children younger than 3 years old receive the same protective antibody response from the recommended two doses of licensed seasonal influenza vaccines regardless of whether the two doses are injected by needle, inhaled through a nasal spray or provided through one dose of each in any order, according to researchers funded by the National Institutes of Health. Doctors usually give young children two matching vaccines, and one goal of the study was to determine whether giving two different types of vaccines works just as well.

Currently, there are at least 15 states that require some kind of reporting or screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), according to the latest statistics from the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). While they acknowledge that healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) must be stopped, many infection preventionists say they feel as though knee-jerk legislation is leading this issue, and not the actual scientific evidence for active surveillance. No one can dispute that any means to eliminate HAIs is an imperative; however, as the push for implementation science increases, some are wondering if screening has been studied enough to warrant a legislative mandate. It's one of those issues with which infection preventionists and healthcare epidemiologists grapple as they continue to push for doing what's right for improved patient outcomes.

In recent months, the medical community has witnessed outbreaks of NDM-1, KPC and a new strain of Escherichia coli, underscoring the urgency of addressing antibiotic stewardship to save lives and billions of dollars in costs caused by antibiotic-resistant and antibiotic-susceptible pathogens.

Mention the word vaccination and most people think of babies, toddlers and school-age children. But as the fact is, adults also need to be vaccinated (when and where appropriate) to keep themselves and their children safe. Unfortunately, far too many adults overlook these lifesaving measures.

Insertion of short peripheral intravenous catheters is an extremely frequent procedure in many healthcare settings. In fact, an estimated 330 million catheters are sold annually in the United States. Nurses are very familiar with the risk of these devices to patients including pain and vein wasting from multiple venipuncture attempts, nerve damage resulting in complex regional pain syndrome, inadvertent arterial insertion producing amputation with the injection of certain medications, infiltration and extravasation producing the need for surgical treatment, and thrombophlebitis requiring extended treatment with anticoagulants.

Pressure ulcers have become more prevalent in hospitals and nursing homes in the last decade, even though preventative protocols backed by clinical research have been shown to be effective. Pressure ulcers, also known as decubitus ulcers, are skin lesions associated with pressure, moisture, and other factors. They can affect any area of skin and are especially common on the sacral area, greater trochanter, heels and other areas with bony prominences. Without adequate blood flow, the affected tissue dies.  If not properly treated these ulcers can evolve into deep wounds that go down to the bone and lead to serious and potentially life-threatening infections.