HAIs

The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) will hold its "Building an Effective Business Case for Infection Prevention" conference Sept. 12-13, 2010 in Baltimore, Md.

In an ongoing effort to improve patient safety, the University of Tennessee Medical Center (UT Medical Center) of Knoxville, Tenn., will utilize the Premier healthcare alliances SafetyConnect patient safety program complete with the Duke Infection Control Outreach Network (DICON)'s online educational modules.

DuPont Sustainable Solutions has released the DVD-based training series, "Infection Control In Long-Term Care: Protect Your Residents, Protect Yourself," a timely training program that addresses the unique challenge of disease-prevention in long-term care facilities.

Catheter Connections, Inc., a manufacturer of innovative vascular access and infection control products, announces that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted the company 510(k) clearance to market its DualCap product.

Sepsis and septic shock appear to be more common than heart attacks or pulmonary blood clots among patients having general surgery, and the death rate for patients with septic shock is approximately 34 percent within 30 days of operation, according to a report in the July issue of Archives of Surgery.

AORN offers a new infection prevention course that assists ASCs in meeting CMS requirements.

ICT readers sound off on issues pertinent to infection prevention, sterile processing, environmental services, materials management and the operating room.

Until adequate oversight of all ambulatory facilities is in place, we will continue to read of bad practices cause patient harm -- whether from poor hand hygiene, improper use of medications and injection equipment, incorrect practices around cleaning, disinfection and sterilization and environmental cleaning.