The Journal of hospital infection
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Pancreatic surgery is associated with high morbidity, mainly due to infectious complications, so many centres use postoperative antibiotics (ATBpo) for all patients. However, antibiotic regimens vary according to local practices. The aims of this study were to describe the occurrence of surgical site infection (SSI) and ATBpo prescription after pancreatic surgery, and to determine the risk factors of postoperative SSI, in order to better define the clinical indications for ATBpo in this context. ⋯ Non-routine ATBpo after major pancreatic surgery resulted in 85 (56%) patients being spared unnecessary antibiotic treatment. This suggests that routine ATBpo prescription could be excessive, but further studies are needed to confirm such antibiotic stewardship. Fever appears to be a relevant clinical sign for individual-based prescription, but the presence of a biliary prosthesis does not.
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Opportunity exists to decrease healthcare-related exposure to severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2), preserve infection control resources, and increase care capacity by reducing the time to diagnosis of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). A retrospective cohort analysis was undertaken to measure the effect of targeted rapid molecular testing for SARS-CoV-2 on these outcomes. In comparison with standard platform testing, rapid testing was associated with a 65.6% reduction (12.6 h) in the median time to removal from the isolation cohort for patients with negative diagnostic results. This translated to an increase in COVID-19 treatment capacity of 3028 bed-hours and 7500 fewer patient interactions that required the use of personal protective equipment per week.
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Coronavirus disease 2019 has stretched the ability of many institutions to supply needed personal protective equipment, especially N95 respirators. N95 decontamination and re-use programmes provide one potential solution to this problem. Unfortunately, a comprehensive evaluation of the effects of decontamination on the fit of various N95 models using a quantitative fit test (QNFT) approach is lacking. ⋯ The data revealed variability in the functional integrity of different N95 models after VHP decontamination, and exposed potential limitations of N95 decontamination and re-use programmes.