American journal of infection control
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Am J Infect Control · Sep 2009
Polymerase chain reaction screening for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus and contact isolation.
Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections are thought to now be endemic in some populations. The early identification of individuals admitted to the hospital who are harboring this organism is important for the timely implementation of appropriate control strategies. Our objective was to measure the prevalence of MRSA carriage in high-risk patients entering our hospital and to determine which of these patients screened for MRSA should be placed in contact precautions on admission. ⋯ We used a rapid screening test to identify patients harboring MRSA. Our findings support that MRSA is harbored sporadically and patients do not have to be placed in contact isolation based on a history of previously being MRSA positive.
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Am J Infect Control · Jun 2009
Surgical site infection: incidence and impact on hospital utilization and treatment costs.
Surgical site infections (SSIs) are serious operative complications that occur in approximately 2% of surgical procedures and account for some 20% of health care-associated infections. ⋯ SSI is associated with a significant economic burden in terms of extended length of stay and increased costs of treatment. Our analysis documented nearly 1 million additional inpatient-days and $1.6 billion in excess costs.
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Am J Infect Control · May 2009
Measuring adherence to hand hygiene guidelines: a field survey for examples of effective practices.
Measuring adherence to hand hygiene guidelines is resource intensive and complicated by lack of standardized methodology. The multiplicity of approaches in use makes it difficult to meaningfully compare performance across health care organizations. The goal of this project was to identify promising and effective practices for measuring adherence with hand hygiene guidelines across a variety of settings. ⋯ Among respondents who considered their approach to be an example of an effective practice, there was substantial variation in methods and little evidence of reliability. Standardization of methods is needed to compare performance across organizations or within an organization over time.
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Am J Infect Control · May 2009
National point prevalence of Clostridium difficile in US health care facility inpatients, 2008.
Recent published estimates of Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) incidence have been based on small numbers of hospitals or national hospital discharge data. These data suggest that CDI incidence is increasing. ⋯ Our survey documents a higher C difficile prevalence rate than previous estimates using different methodologies. The majority of inpatient CDI appears to be health care associated. Given that not all patients with diarrhea are tested for CDI and that most facilities use enzyme immunoassays with limited sensitivity to detect C difficile, these are minimum estimates of the US health care facility C difficile burden.
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Am J Infect Control · May 2009
Association between use of hand hygiene products and rates of health care-associated infections in a large university hospital in Norway.
An association between use of hand hygiene products and health care-associated infection rates was investigated in a large Norwegian university hospital. ⋯ These data suggests that infection rates may be reflected by amount of hand hygiene products used. Quantification of such products over time may serve as an indicator for hand hygiene performance in hospitals.