Infection Control

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.

Data released as part of The Leapfrog Group's annual hospital rankings — which analyzed data from late 2021 and into 2022 — revealed a significant rise in healthcare-associated infections — a trend that was in decline prior to the pandemic.

Needless to say, the onset of COVID-19 came without a clear road map for the medical profession to follow while navigating it. It's in light of this that the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology launched a series…

The pivot from pandemic-era mandatory masking in healthcare settings to optional masking — even for healthcare staff in most cases — has become a difficult situation for vulnerable, high-risk and immunocompromised patients to navigate. 

The Veterans Affairs North Texas Health Care System in Dallas prevented healthcare-associated infection rates from rising during the pandemic — and reduced burnout among infection prevention and control team members — through a 14-month initiative, according to a study published…

Over the last six months, 31 patients at Seattle-based Virginia Mason Medical Center have been infected with Klebsiella pneumoniae and four have since died, NPR affiliate KUOW reported April 25.

UChicago Medicine Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, Ill., hasn't seen a central-line-associated blood infection since December 2021 — an accomplishment that took coordinated planning and multidisciplinary collaboration. 

Staff and visitors will be required to mask up at Santa Rosa (Calif.) Medical Center amid a COVID-19 outbreak that has infected more than a dozen hospital workers and patients, The San Francisco Chronicle reported April 20.