American journal of infection control
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Am J Infect Control · Apr 2000
Improved tuberculosis infection control practices in Maryland acute care hospitals.
In 1992 and 1993, the Maryland Hospital Association and the Maryland Department of Health and Mental Hygiene conducted 2 surveys of tuberculosis prevention practices in Maryland hospitals that showed poor compliance with the 1990 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's guidelines for preventing transmission of tuberculosis in health care facilities. ⋯ The survey results demonstrate excellent compliance with the 1994 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommendations for tuberculosis control in Maryland acute care hospitals, even in those facilities determined to be at minimal to low risk for tuberculosis exposure. The proposed Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulations are unlikely to further reduce the risk of tuberculosis exposure to health care workers in Maryland acute care hospitals.
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Am J Infect Control · Apr 2000
Critical care bug team: a multidisciplinary team approach to reducing ventilator-associated pneumonia.
Ventilator-associated pneumonia rates in the medical-surgical intensive care unit first exceeded the 90th percentile in September 1997 and were significantly (P <.05) higher than National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System pooled mean data. In January 1998, a multidisciplinary "Critical Care Bug Team" was developed by the Infection Control Committee to review 1997 National Nosocomial Infections Surveillance System data for four adult intensive care units in a 583-bed tertiary care hospital. ⋯ This study illustrates the effectiveness of a multidisciplinary team approach devised to reduce and stabilize ventilator-associated pneumonia rates in a medical-surgical intensive care unit.
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Am J Infect Control · Apr 2000
A cluster of necrotizing enterocolitis in term infants undergoing open heart surgery.
Necrotizing enterocolitis (NEC) is a serious gastrointestinal disease of unknown cause that predominantly affects premature infants, but it has been reported in term infants with congenital heart disease. ⋯ Although an infectious etiology cannot be ruled out, the cases of NEC in infants with congenital heart disease after cardiac procedures may have resulted from mesenteric ischemia associated with a low perfusion state in the perioperative period.