HAIs

With the debate swirling around the efficacy and safety of UV-C technology, an individual needs which generation the product is. Infection Control Today® continues its ongoing special reporting on UV-C technology.

Despite studies that show UV-C is effective and safe, some individuals still refuse to believe it, based on experience with or studies based on first generation UV-C technology.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending September 16.

Some individuals believe health care-associated infections data should be more transparent than what hospitals provide. How does the hospital leadership react to the publicly-reported data?

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending September 9.

Long-term care facilities were once normally happier places, but COVID-19 changed the individuals working and living there. PPEs, testing, overwork, underpayment, and too many isolations have chased health care workers away and forced the facilities' population to plummet. Can anything be done?

The workshop included members of the public, academics, and representatives of the pharmaceutical industry to discuss development of new medicines for preventing HAIs and antibiotic resistance.

Prolonged catheter use is the number 1 risk factor for developing catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI). External urine collection devices are an alternative to indwelling catheters for managing urinary incontinence.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending September 2.

With the CDC, FDA, and Joint Commission all using different guidelines and recommendations for the types of disinfection acceptable for various ultrasound transducers, clinicians should follow manufacturers’ instructions, but a more unified answer is needed.

Having complete IV start kits or central line insertion kits to reduce gel type variability and, thus gel contamination and following AIUM and INS disinfection recommendations are 2 ways to prevent health care-acquired infections.

Infection Control Today's® Product Locator is a monthly column highlighting some of the latest advanced technology in the infection prevention field.

The smallest hospital patients need extra care to be protected from infectious disease. This article series examines the NICU from both a physician and infection preventionist perspective.

Ambassador Deborah Birx said in an exclusive interview with ICT® that there are “extraordinary structural barriers in the US to access” medical care. Individuals may have insurance, but they cannot access care.

Using an ultrasound transducer may look easy, but it is a highly specialized skill, and to use a transducer requires education, accountability, and competency checks to occur regularly.

Using ultrasound transducers is often necessary in the emergency department, but too often the proper procedures to protect against health care associated infections are not followed, and clinicians are worried.

A carbapenem-resistant Acinetobacter baumannii (CRAB) cluster was identified and stopped because of due diligence of the infection preventionists at an acute care facility in Louisiana.

Standardizing disinfectant wipes across multiple facilities requires comparing active ingredients, kill claims, and dwell times.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending July 29.

CRE cases are considered a US public health threat, and, concerningly, a small, but notable proportion of CRE cases occur in patients without traditional health care risk factors.

This is the third in a series of articles based on ICT®'s exclusive interview with Oliver D. Kripfgans, PhD, FAIUM, about ultrasound transducer disinfection, and the consequences of using the incorrect type.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending July 22.

Environmental sources of pathogen organisms can sometimes be difficult to narrow down in a health care facility. One possible source of transmission is the laundry used, and not maintaining strict cleanliness attention can put both patients and workers at risk.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending July 15.

Improper standards complicate cleaning and disinfecting and can represent a wasteful use of resources, specifically when facilities also may lack access to high-level technology.