Hospital Infection Control & Prevention – June 1, 2013
June 1, 2013
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Cleaning, disinfecting hospital environment becoming a top priority in infection prevention
Whether through high-tech innovation or sheer elbow grease, reducing the bioburden of a host of pathogens in the health care environment is taking on unprecedented importance in infection prevention. -
Wipeout: C. diff clean team cuts rates 40%
The use of a dedicated cleaning team to literally wipe out Clostridium difficile in occupied patient rooms lowered infection rates and left 93% of high touch surfaces negative on C. diff cultures, says Curtis Donskey, MD, staff physician at Louis Stokes Cleveland Veterans Affairs Medical Center and an author of the study. -
Harnessing the killing power of copper
The installation of copper objects and surfaces in patient rooms reduced infections by two major nosocomial pathogens by more than half, suggesting the antimicrobial metal could provide a powerful yet completely passive weapon for prevention. -
Hemodialysis centers urged to adopt BSI prevention
With strong evidence emerging that infection control interventions and pristine catheter care could prevent thousands of bloodstream infections annually in hemodialysis settings, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is urging freestanding and hospital-based dialysis centers to adopt its core collaborative measures nationally. -
OSHA cracks down on bloodborne violations
Some health care employers are failing to take even the most basic steps to protect against bloodborne pathogen exposures, and the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration is beginning to take notice.