Prevention

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today®’s highlights for the week ending April 30, 2023.

Findings provide the first published evidence of the relationship between standard precaution adherence and the safety of health care workers and patients.

A study published in AJIC describes how one health care system implanted an initiative by their IPs to prevent the health care-acquired infections when COVID-19 loomed over their work.

In the infections the investigators examined, about 60% of the bacteria that cause these infections did have a carbapenemase gene. Did they find a mortality difference in those infections which did and didn’t?

What are the issues if sterile processing departments (SPDs) can't hire more qualified personnel?

Saskia v. Popescu, PhD, MPH, MA, CIC, gives the latest on COVID-19, Marburg Virus Disease, and a 1-hit STI antibiotic plan.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today®’s highlights for the week ending April 23, 2023.

How is infection prevention different in dental offices from other health care facilities? Experts explain.

The CDC updated and simplified its vaccine recommendations on April 19, 2023, and the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech mRNA bivalent COVID-19 vaccines should be used for all vaccinations in the US.

Kevin Kavanagh, MD, discusses how Russian bots have tried to convince the United States public that masking is unnecessary. What do the latest studies say?

Sulbactam-durlobactam is under priority review (PDUFA; May 29, 2023). 

Numerous pathogen outbreaks have been from the water in medical facilities. So what are the dangers, and what can infection preventionists do to prevent morbidities and mortalities from occurring?

One person has died of Hantavirus pulmonary syndrome caused by Hantavirus in New Mexico. What is it, and what can be done to protect individuals from being exposed to Hantavirus?

Since the Marburg virus is deadly, what would it be like to work with it in a laboratory setting? And what can be done to protect those who work with patients with Marburg?

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today®’s highlights for the week ending April 16, 2023.

Surgical site infections (SSIs) are not getting documented as often as they occur, and the financial toll could be staggering. Two experts presented about what can be done to reduce SSIs on this topic and then spoke with Infection Control Today at the Association for PeriOperative Nurses (AORN) held in San Antonio, Texas, on April 1-4, 2023.

Prescribers are presented with the optimal therapy challenges and achieving antibacterial stewardship.

With the focus of COVID-19, MRSA infections increased. How did the VA work to prevent this pathogen?

Central line-associated bloodstream infections (CLABSIs) or catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) have been increasing since the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. What is the IP's role in preventing them and the mortalities that sometimes accompany them?

Two investigators from Australia spoke with ICT about how management tools can overcome health care worker reluctance and implement OR safety improvements.

How does someone become an infection preventionist or an epidemiologist? And how does the person continue to grow in their profession? Isis Lamphier, MPH, CIC, explains.

At the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases (ECCMID), 2 posters about the COVID-19 antiviral, ensitrelvir, will be presented. ICT found out more about what they say.

In an education session at the 2023 Association of the PeriOperative Nurses (AORN), Sheri Voss, MS, RN, CNOR (Emeritus), taught attendees about factors affecting operational performance in the operating room and what can be done about them.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today®’s highlights for the week ending April 9, 2023.

International Infection Preventionist Day is a time to recognize the critical work of infection preventionists and to raise awareness about the importance of infection prevention in protecting public health.

In a recent study, vaccination administered during pregnancy was effective against severe lower respiratory tract illness associated with respiratory syncytial virus in infants.

Since The Netherlands has the most rigorous standards for operating room air quality in the world, it was the perfect place to test if the air quality concept created by Maximuse fulfilled the governmental requirement. These results were presented the 2023 AORN conference.

One focus of the 2023 Association of PeriOperative Nurses (AORN) 2023 Conference in San Antonio, Texas, was ambulatory health care, and ICT spoke to presenters on the importance of emergency preparedness drills.

Amber Wood MSN, RN, CNOR, CIC, FAPIC, talks with ICT about her 2 presentations at the 2023 AORN annual conference, and how important the conference is to her and everyone who attended.

The decline in the overall health of United States citizens has been blamed on good public health strategies, but the data doesn't support that idea. So, what does the data show? ICT examines what studies show.