The Infection Control Today® prevention page contains news and information on the latest updates on all facets of infection prevention. From vaccinations and immunizations to controlling air and water flow in a health care system, preventing infections falls not only on the infection prevention staff, but on all who interact within the hospital, from environmental services teams to those planning and building new construction.
February 10th 2025
Burnout among infection preventionists is a growing crisis exacerbated by the pandemic. This personal reflection highlights the emotional toll, systemic challenges, and urgent need for support.
Transforming a Pandemic Response Unit From an Inpatient Nursing Unit
September 15th 2022With COVID-19 beginning to surge, University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center needed to create a response unit from what had been an inpatient nursing unit. A recent study explains how this conversion was effective and can stand as an example for other facilities.
Immunity Lessons From COVID-19: Natural Infection vs Vaccination
September 13th 2022Investigators have learned invaluable lessons from 2 and a half years of the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly on human immunity. Is natural infection better for long-term protection against COVID-19 or is vaccination? What does the data say?
Fractured Trust: Learning Lessons From COVID-19 to Prevent Monkeypox
September 9th 2022How much information should the public have about infectious diseases? Can the public handle the truth? If the correct information is not given out, will the public believe the medical leaders when another serious disease threatens the public’s health? Ambassador Deborah Birx, MD, continues her discussion with ICT.
Boots on the Ground, or These Boots Are Made for Walking? Some LTC Staff Choose the Latter
September 7th 2022Long-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?
No Catheter. No CAUTI: Urine Management with External Catheters
September 5th 2022Prolonged 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.
COVID-19 Vaccines Provide Protection for Pregnant Individuals and Fetal Outcomes
September 2nd 2022Despite the gap of the current and desired rate of COVID-19 vaccinations of pregnant individuals, the systematic review and meta-analysis of 10 observational studies show the vaccines are safe and effective.
Ultrasound Transducers: Avoiding Gel Contamination and Using Proper Level Disinfection
August 31st 2022Having 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.
Value and Evidence for Vascular Access Specialist Teams
August 26th 2022The purpose and function of a vascular access specialist team or trained individual may include the initial assessment and insertion and management of peripheral intravenous catheters, midlines, peripherally inserted central catheters, arterial catheters, and external and/or internal jugular, femoral, and subclavian catheters.
Infection Prevention Is Key in a Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
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.
Give Sterile Processing Team, Profession the Recognition They Deserve
August 23rd 2022Sterile Processing Week runs from October 9 through 15. Julie Williamson, of the Healthcare Sterile Processing Association, explains why appreciation goes a long way with this vital group of hospital professionals.
Birx: Every New Infection, Loss Should be Considered a Failure of US Medical Infrastructure
August 17th 2022Ambassador 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.
Viewpoint: We Cannot Afford to Surrender to COVID-19 Now
August 17th 2022Last week the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention relaxed recommendations which neither control or prevent a rapidly evolving and disabling disease, COVID-19. However, we must maintain effective efforts to control spread of the virus.
CDC Radically Cuts COVID-19 Guidelines Right as School Year Begins: Not All Experts Approve
August 12th 2022Ambassador Deborah Birx, MD, infectious disease expert, and a former director at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and Monica Gandhi, MD, MPH, weigh in on that agency's significantly changed quarantine and distancing guidelines.
Contamination of Point-of-Care Ultrasound Transducers Alarms Key Clinician
August 11th 2022Using 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.