Prevention

COVID-19, and the emotional and physical toll it caused, reached all corners of the globe. At a nursing home in Hawaii, the staff describes how the pandemic has affected them.

With the World Health Organization declaring monkeypox a global emergency, Infection Control Today® looks at what lessons SARS-CoV-2 gave but were not followed, and what could be next.

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.

Read about a lady with white hair, being human, and how infection prevention needs to transform.

Bug of the Month helps educate readers about existing and emerging pathogens of clinical importance in healthcare facilities today.

Infection preventionists are not alone, despite how the COVID-19 pandemic has often made them feel. They are one point of the patient's triad--and the bonds within the triad are vital for the patient's outcome.

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.

While a few ultrasound procedures suggest increased instances of patient infections due to low-level disinfection techniques, statistically, results from peer-reviewed studies do not confirm this idea.

The report addresses how the US’s decisions on the pandemic generally increased antimicrobial resistance, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) recommendations for the future.

For terminal cleans, investigators studied the effect of UV-C disinfection added to chlorine-based disinfectants on the likelihood of MDRO transmission from the source occupant to subsequently exposed occupants.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending July 8.

The strength of The Association for Professionals and Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) is the volunteer members and the critical work they perform to assist both novice and veteran IPs.

Certain disinfecting cycles can be used to extend the frequency and use of single-use respirators, but how do they affect the respirator filtration efficiency?

A recent study by NYU Langone investigators determined that disinfecting high-touch surfaces within patient rooms with NaDCC via wipes and electrostatic sprayers yielded lower mean bacteria colony counts.

Two patients were found with C auris in the CVAHCS beginning in October 2020, and a recent study describes how the facility handled the situation.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending July 1.

Take 5 minutes to catch up on Infection Control Today’s highlights for the week ending June 24.

Despite the initial reluctance for a urology team to work with infection preventionists, the collaboration is beneficial for both specialties.

They should be partners making each other and their patients safe through communication, education, and action plans.

If the policies are not consistently updated, they are “just a piece of paper shoved in a logbook that is not going to effectively improve reprocessing…of ultrasound probes,” said Lisa Waldowski, DNP, RN, CIC.

Eye devices often are not cleaned nor sterilized as they should be according to manufacturer’s instructions for use, which leads to poorer patient outcomes.

This recommendation comes at an critical time as this flu season is feared to be a rebound after the low numbers the last few years due to COVID-19 precautions.

Infection preventionists should take an active role supporting ambulatory partners to help them follow infection prevention and control practices.