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The Joint Commission provides the following answers to frequently asked questions about its 2004 patient safety goal to manage as sentinel events all identified cases of unanticipated death or major permanent loss of function associated with a health care-acquired infections:
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A nosocomial outbreak of a novel strain of strikingly resistant Acinetobacter baumanii led to two patient deaths before it was eradicated through strict isolation and environmental decontamination, an infection control professional reports.
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At least three similar but distinct strains of community-acquired methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA) are emerging in the United States, rendering common empiric therapy useless and causing aggressive skin infections, Healthcare Infection Prevention has learned.
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A recent patient safety report by an Institute of Medicine committee in Washington, DC, includes the following true firsthand account of a staffing problem leading to a nosocomial infection.
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Emerging infections, bioterrorism, and the patient safety movement are converging along with changes in the health care delivery system to reinvent the role of infection control. But the rising profile of infection control professionals is not necessarily lifting salaries along with it.
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Sleepiness, obesity, hypertension, witnessed apneas, and frequent snoring are prevalent in the general population; demand for diagnostic and treatment services for sleep apnea is likely to skyrocket.
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More than 90% of individuals studied maintain measurable humoral or T-cell-mediated immunity against vaccinia virus for as long as 75 years after smallpox vaccination.
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Like patients hospitalized with acute myocardial infarction and total knee replacements, EM of hospitalized patients with CAP reduces overall hospital length of stay and institutional resources without increasing the risk of adverse outcomes.
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The new criterion for FPG will identify many more individuals who are at risk for developing diabetes.
