American journal of infection control
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Am J Infect Control · Dec 2016
Timeline of health care-associated infections and pathogens after burn injuries.
Infections are an important cause of morbidity and mortality after burn injuries. Here, we describe the time line of infections and pathogens after burns. ⋯ We observed differences in infection type, pathogen, and antibiotic-resistant bacterium risk across time of hospitalization. These results may guide infection prevention in various stages of the postburn admission.
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Am J Infect Control · Dec 2016
Decontamination of a field laboratory dedicated to Ebola virus-infected patients.
In 2015, the French Armed Forces deployed a biosafety level 3 (BSL3) field laboratory as a part of an Ebola treatment center in Guinea. When closing the center, laboratory decontamination operations were necessary. We present the decontamination protocols applied for the BSL3 field laboratory, making the entire module ready for a future use.
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Am J Infect Control · Oct 2016
The critical care nurse work environment, physician staffing, and risk for ventilator-associated pneumonia.
We examined the relationship between intensivist physician staffing, nurse work environment, and ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in 25 intensive care units. We found a significant interaction between the nurse work environment, intensivist physician staffing, and VAP. Future work may need to focus on fostering organizational collaboration between nursing and medicine to leverage skills of both clinician groups to reduce risk for VAP in critically ill patients.
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Am J Infect Control · Sep 2016
ReviewAirborne spread of infectious agents in the indoor environment.
Since the 2003 severe acute respiratory syndrome epidemic, scientific exploration of infection control is no longer restricted to microbiologists or medical scientists. Many studies have reported on the release, transport, and exposure of expiratory droplets because of respiratory activities. This review focuses on the airborne spread of infectious agents from mucus to mucus in the indoor environment and their spread as governed by airflows in the respiratory system, around people, and in buildings at different transport stages. ⋯ We have shown the opportunities for infection control at different stages of the spread. We propose that the short-range airborne route may be important in close contact, and its control may be achieved by face masks for the source patients and use of personalized ventilation. Our discussion of the effect of thermal stratification and expiratory delivery of droplets leads to the suggestion that displacement ventilation may not be applicable to hospital rooms where respiratory infection is a concern.
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Am J Infect Control · Aug 2016
Enhancement of hand hygiene compliance among health care workers from a hemodialysis unit using video-monitoring feedback.
The importance of hand hygiene in the prevention of health care-associated infection is well known. Experience with hand hygiene compliance (HHC) evaluation in hemodialysis units is scarce. ⋯ Video-assisted monitoring of hand hygiene is an excellent method for the evaluation of HHC in a hemodialysis unit; enhanced HHC can be achieved through a feedback program to the hemodialysis staff that includes video examples and confidential reports.