Infection Control

With new metrics indicating rising healthcare-associated infections amid the pandemic, the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology is calling on healthcare organizations to assess infection prevention capacity and strengthen prevention programs.

As patient safety declines amid the pandemic, the U.S. must rebuild a healthcare delivery system in which safety is embedded in every step of a process, with clear metrics that are aggregated, assessed and acted on, according to an analysis…

Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, metrics tracking healthcare-associated infections and other complications of care indicate significant deterioration of multiple patient safety measures, according to an analysis published Feb. 12 by The New England Journal of Medicine.

Carl Vinson VA Medical Center in Dublin, Ga., is providing free testing for blood-borne infections to more than 4,000 patients after learning they may have been exposed to improperly sterilized medical equipment, local CBS affiliate WMAZ reports. 

White-tailed deer are easily infected by the coronavirus, with some experts now concerned they may become a reservoir for the virus to mutate and spread, The New York Times reported Feb. 7. 

People who report they always wear a mask or respirator in indoor public settings were less likely to test positive for COVID-19 than people who did not, according to the CDC's Feb. 4 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report. 

Increased misuse and overuse of antibiotics amid the pandemic may be exacerbating antibiotic resistance, according to a Jan. 28 report by National Geographic.

The leader of Leapfrog, as well as the head of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology, discussed current hand hygiene protocols and compliance, and why hospitals may not be meeting the standards.

The Oregon Health Authority reported a COVID-19 outbreak affecting 18 employees at Columbia Memorial Hospital in Astoria in its latest weekly surveillance summary published Jan. 26. 

Hospitals should take more aggressive measures to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in hospitals amid the omicron driven surge, physicians from Cambridge, Mass.-based Harvard University and Stanford (Calif.) University wrote in an editorial piece published Jan. 24 in JAMA.