Hand Hygiene

In light of a number of high-profile recalls of contaminated alcohol prep products in the last several years, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) held a hearing recently to receive expert testimony and public comment on how to address microbial contamination of these patient preoperative skin preparation drug products. It is a step in the ongoing investigational process that the agency is undertaking to determine issues related to sterility impacted by manufacturing processes.

Companies are announcing their educational offerings as well as opportunities to netwrok and see new products and services at the 40th annual meeting of the Association for the Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC), to be held June 8-10, 2013 in Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.

Three Litchfield High School students created a multi-media hygiene education campaign and received national honors from the Healthy Schools, Healthy People: Its a SNAP Program.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) this week kicked off its 62nd Annual Epidemic Intelligence Service (EIS) Conference in Atlanta, beginning a week-long conference dedicated to showcasing the life-saving work of its current EIS officers, or disease detectives, and welcoming the incoming class of officers to the two-year postgraduate EIS program.

Educating and empowering patients to actively participate in their care helps reduce a patient's risk of hospital acquired infections. Creating an open dialogue, however, can be a challenge in today's healthcare. So how can hospitals improve their patient education programs and help patients become empowered and active in their treatment?