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The infection prevention community has lost some measure of credibility in the public and political eye and must embrace the patient advocacy movement to regain a leadership role, said Steve Weber, MD, a health care epidemiologist at the University of Chicago.
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(Editor's note: In this issue of IP Newbie, we feature a column for new professionals written by Patti Grant, an infection preventionist and editorial advisory board member of this publication. An IP since 1990, Grant was profiled in the debut issue of this supplement. She has a passion for mentoring that will add invaluable "in-the-trenches" insights for new practitioners in the field.)
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As a new generation of health care epidemiologists comes into the work force, these physicians may find that hospital administrators have a troubling lack of awareness about the resources required to run an infection prevention program in today's increasingly regulatory environment.
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Citing a dramatic disconnect between the tens of thousands of patients dying annually with health care-associated infections (HAIs) and the paltry number that actually are being reported as sentinel events, The Joint Commission is urging hospitals to file the voluntary reports to help improve patient safety.
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Under standard IC.01.03.01, The Joint Commission requires that the hospital identifies risks for acquiring and transmitting infections.
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Among almost 6000 patients with COPD who were using other classes of respiratory therapies, the addition of tiotropium, compared with placebo, was associated with improvements in lung function, quality of life, and exacerbations during a 4-year period, but did not result in benefits in the rate of decline in FEV1.
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The FDA has extended the approval for the Human Papillomavirus Quadrivalent Recombinant Vaccine to include the prevention of vaginal and vulvar cancer. The vaccine, originally approved in 2006, is already approved for the prevention of cervical cancer and genital warts.
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Opinions on the consequences of marijuana use are wide-ranging: Some experts express grave concern that it may induce COPD, increase risk of lung cancer, promote the emergence of schizophrenia, and lead to "heavy drug" use; others essentially dismiss these (potential) adversities as inadequately established to permit accusations that marijuana has any commonplace serious adverse effects.
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Ongoing safety review of tiotropium; raloxifene reduces the risk of endometrial cancer; one-day treatment with famciclovir may be as effective as 3-day treatment with valacyclovir; new Clinical Practice Guideline from the American College of Physicians regarding pharmacologic treatment for low bone density and osteoporosis; FDA Actions.
