Infection Control

The ambulatory surgery center ecosystem is thriving. New ASCs, whether owned privately or through cooperative investments with hospitals, are springing up across the nation — and their surgical volumes are growing. This trend, driven largely by changes in reimbursement models…

Texas health officials are warning clinicians about a string of suspected fungal meningitis cases among state residents who underwent surgery in Mexico.

Now is not the time to do away with masks in healthcare settings, two infectious disease physicians wrote in a commentary published May 16 in Annals of Internal Medicine, an indication that the debate over whether hospitals should continue to…

The CDC published guidance on improving building ventilation to protect people from respiratory infections.

Here are six findings from infection control studies Becker's has covered since April: 

A new study found a high percentage of COVID-19 deaths may have been caused by a secondary pneumonia infection.

Intermountain Health reduced antibiotic prescribing in urgent care clinics by 15 percent after rolling out new stewardship initiatives, according to a study published May 11 in JAMA Network Open.

Allowing bedside nurses to independently order Clostridioides difficile testing could help hospitals lower the risk of patient infections and associated deaths, according to a study published May 11 in the American Journal of Infection Control.

New guidance on surgical site infections calls for physicians to cease antibiotic prophylaxis immediately after surgeries, according to research published May 4 in Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology. It is the first major revision to the guidelines since 2014.

Health officials have yet to identify the source of a Klebsiella pneumoniae outbreak tied to 31 illnesses and seven patient deaths at Seattle-based Virginia Mason Medical Center, NPR affiliate KUOW reported May 5.