American journal of infection control
-
Outpatient prescriptions comprise 60% of antibiotic use. This study prospectively identified inappropriate antibiotic use enabling a focused approach to outpatient antimicrobial stewardship. ⋯ Poor antibiotic prescribing was found in the outpatient setting. This study identifies areas for improvement via stewardship.
-
Am J Infect Control · Aug 2019
Modified glove use for contact precautions: Health care workers' perceptions and acceptance.
Patients colonized or infected with methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus are placed under contact precautions. Contact precautions require patients to be placed in single rooms and their health care workers (HCWs) to wear gowns, aprons and gloves on entry and doffing on exit. Glove use is widely accepted to be associated with poor hand hygiene compliance. We trailed the removal of gloves for contact precautions for contacts not expected to involve body fluids to improve hand hygiene between multiple contacts of the patient and patient zone. ⋯ The trial of nonglove use for expected dry contact, while caring for patients under contact precautions for methicillin-resistant S aureus and or vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus, was successful in refocusing HCWs reliance on hand hygiene for self-protection. Mandatory glove use for contact precautions was believed to contribute to their failure to change gloves between procedures on the same patient and patient zone, with HCWs now recognizing multiple contacts with the same gloves as a risk for contamination.