-
IPs today must be willing to learn, willing to change, become tech-savvy, and demonstrate their programs save lives and dollars.
-
-
In findings that dramatically undercut the growing perception that infection prevention has become a top priority for the health care system, many IPs are having budgets slashed and critical functions such as surveillance compromised, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) reported recently in Fort Lauderdale, FL, at the group's annual conference.
-
The principal findings of a recent economic survey by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology include the following:
-
The Centers for Disease Control continues to reassess its infection control guidelines for pandemic influenza A H1N1, but has held to a controversial N95 respirator recommendation due to the possibility of airborne spread that would make standard surgical masks ineffective, said Michael Bell, MD, associate director for Infection Control in the CDC Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion.
-
Recent outbreaks of hepatitis C are a wake-up call to boost infection control practices, particularly in outpatient settings. But they also underscore the prevalence of HCV and the continued occupational risk to health care workers.
-
Perhaps no American in medicine is more synonymous with hand hygiene than Elaine Larson, RN, PhD, FAAN, CIC, associate dean for research at the Columbia School of Nursing in New York City. Larson has authored scores of papers on the cardinal principle of infection prevention.
-
Microbiologists have traditionally taken extra steps to identify non-hemolytic streptococcus-like strains isolated from blood cultures primarily to identify Enterococcus species and rule out Streptococcus bovis. S. bovis is still often identified by its colony similarity to Enterococcus species and its similar ability to hydrolyze esculin in the presence of bile, but unlike Enterococcus species, it is unable to grow in 6.5% salt broth.
-
A randomized, multicenter, open-label, parallel group, noninferiority trial of childhood septic arthritis was performed at seven referral hospitals in Finland from 1983-2005.
-
In a series of elegant experiments, kohanski et al demonstrated that the three major classes of bactericidal antibiotics, regardless of drug-target interaction, stimulate hydroxyl radical formation in bacteria.
