1. New research published in Health Care Management Review reinforces the idea that the satisfaction of a hospital’s nursing staff plays an integral role in patient outcomes. Read more.
2. Disinfecting rooms with pulsed xenon ultraviolet light was linked to a reduction in intensive care unit-acquired Clostridium difficile infections in a recent study. Read more.
3. Recent research found garlic extract to be effective against antimicrobial-resistant urinary tract infections. Read more.
4. The naming system for newborns in neonatal intensive care units usually identifies babies by gender and last name, like Babygirl Jones. However, this naming system can lead to confusion and possibly wrong-patient errors. Read more.
5. Infection preventionists, hospital staff and clinicians search high and low for weak spots in hospital-setting disinfection and cleanliness, but may need to focus more on what’s in their own pockets: their mobile phones. Read more.
6. Researchers have identified six risk factors for all-cause in-hospital mortality among children with a C. diff infection. Read more.
7. Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC’s electronic surveillance framework for hospitalized children could, if deployed elsewhere, reduce the rate of false-positive diagnoses of serious health conditions, according to recent research. Read more.
8. A study published in mBio may help create a test to predict which hospital patients are at the highest risk of developing a C. diff infection and improve infection management. Read more.
9. A commonly used measurement for patient mortality outcomes in hospitals may not be accounting for preventable deaths, according to new research. Read more.
10. Although some hospitals have made progress in reducing pressure ulcers, injuries, catheter-associated urinary tract infections and central line-associated bloodstream infections, there is still a great deal of variation between hospitals in these rates. Read more.
11. Viruses are blamed more often than bacteria in most U.S. adults hospitalized with pneumonia. But according to a recent CDC study, neither viruses nor bacteria are detected in the majority of hospitalized pneumonia patients. Read more.
12. An aerosol-based vaccine that has been shown to protect primates against the Ebola virus may provide a basis for advancing clinical trials. Read more.
13. Despite its association with cardiovascular disease and mortality, obstructive sleep apnea goes unrecognized in 87 percent of at-risk hospitalized patients. Read more.
14. A sharp rise in streptococcal bacteria infections from between 1998 and 2009 caused scientists to take a closer look at the strain responsible, revealing a new variant that likely triggered the rise in infections. Read more.
15. An analysis of the evolution of the harmful bacteria that live in the upper portion of the throat suggests that their shape has changed over time, giving the bacteria better odds at slipping past our immune system defenses. Read more.
16. Most healthcare workers are not taking proper precautions to remove personal protective equipment correctly, which increases the risk of spreading infectious pathogens, according to a recent report. Read more.
17. Oxygen saturation alarms are a vital patient care tool to alert medical workers of possible hyperoxia, but too many alarms can cause alarm fatigue for workers and negatively patient safety. Read more.
