Articles Tagged With:
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Why Antibiotic Stewardship Teams Need IPs
Patti Kieffer, BSN, RN, CIC, FAPIC, infection prevention consultant at BJC HealthCare in St. Louis, had a much different talk in mind when she originally thought of addressing her IP colleagues on the antibiotic stewardship.
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Waterborne Outbreaks Go Beyond Legionella
Legionella is not the only bug in hospital water capable of threatening patients with deadly infections. Hospital Infection Control & Prevention recently talked to two investigators in the CDC’s vaunted Epidemic Intelligence Service. Investigating two separate waterborne outbreaks, these medical detectives offered some sage advice in the form of an observation and a caveat.
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APIC 2017: Amid Change, Hold to Core Values
Amid rapid change and new challenges, it is critical for infection preventionists to preserve their core values, including protecting patients and families, APIC President Linda Greene, RN, MPS, CIC, FAPIC, said recently in Portland at the annual conference of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).
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Implementing the CDC Water Management Program
With the recent CMS action1 to begin enforcing Legionella controls in hospitals, infection preventionists can find a wealth of compliance resources in a newly updated CDC Water Management toolkit.2
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Distinguishing Ischemic from Non-ischemic Cardiomyopathy Clinically
SYNOPSIS: This cardiac catheterization-based study of patients with newly diagnosed reduced left ventricular ejection fraction of unknown etiology showed that 15% had ischemic cardiomyopathy and they could be identified by clinical characteristics and an ECG-based risk score.
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B-type Natriuretic Peptide Is Less Useful in Elderly Patients with Dyspnea
SYNOPSIS: Among patients ≥ 80 years of age presenting with acute dyspnea, B-type natriuretic peptide level was not useful for differentiating cardiac vs. respiratory etiologies when added to a model of clinical predictors.
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Sepsis Management: What We Think We Know
SYNOPSIS: In the Protocolized Resuscitation in Sepsis Meta-Analysis (PRISM), 3,723 patients’ outcomes from the ProCESS, ARISE, and ProMISe randomized, controlled trials of early goal-directed therapy (EGDT) were evaluated. EGDT did not result in better outcomes than usual care and was associated with higher costs. The authors of a second study looked at outcomes of 49,331 patients with sepsis treated in New York from April 2014 to June 2016. More rapid completion of the three-hour sepsis bundle and antibiotic administration (but not rapid bolus administration of IV fluids) was associated with reduced in-hospital mortality.
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Dual Antibiotic Therapy Is Not Routinely Necessary for Uncomplicated Cellulitis
SYNOPSIS: A randomized, multicenter, placebo-controlled clinical trial that enrolled patients presenting to emergency departments with uncomplicated cellulitis found the addition of trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole to cephalexin did not lead to better outcomes.
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Does Cancer Patient Want Fertility Preserved? Ethical Issues Arise
Oncofertility, a fairly new but growing field, addresses the special reproductive needs of cancer patients — but guidelines for how to deal with ethical dilemmas have not yet been established.
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‘Predatory’ Online Journals Charge Publication Fees — Minus Peer Review
Is your email box full of dubious-sounding offers to publish articles with very quick turnaround time — but only for a fee? Increasing numbers of “predatory” online medical journals solicit manuscripts and charge publication fees without providing peer review.