Infection control and hospital epidemiology : the official journal of the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2009
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative StudySurgical hand antisepsis with alcohol-based hand rub: comparison of effectiveness after 1.5 and 3 minutes of application.
Research has shown 1.5 minutes of surgical hand antisepsis with alcohol-based hand rub to be at least as effective under experimental conditions as the 3-minute reference disinfection recommended by European Norm 12791. The aim of the present study was to validate the effectiveness of 1.5 minutes of surgical hand antisepsis in a clinical setting by comparing the effectiveness of 1.5- and 3-minute applications of alcohol-based hand rub (45% vol/vol 2-propanol, 30% vol/vol 1-propanol, and 0.2% mecetronium ethylsulphate). ⋯ In this clinical trial, surgical hand antisepsis with alcohol-based hand rub resulted in a similar bacterial reduction, regardless of whether it was applied for 3 or 1.5 minutes, which confirms experimental data generated with healthy volunteers.
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2009
Impact of finger rings on transmission of bacteria during hand contact.
To investigate the impact of finger rings on the transmission of bacteria from the hands of healthcare workers and the impact on the microflora on the hands of healthcare workers in clinical practice. ⋯ Wearing finger rings increases the carriage rate of nonfermentative gram-negative bacteria and Enterobacteriaceae on the hands of healthcare workers. However, no statistically significant differences in the incidence of transmission of nonfermentative gram-negative bacteria or Enterobacteriaceae were detected between the healthcare workers who wore rings and those who did not.
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2009
Risk factors for gram-negative bacterial surgical site infection: do allergies to antibiotics increase risk?
To determine the relationship between inadequate antimicrobial prophylaxis and development of gram-negative bacterial (GNB) surgical site infection (SSI). ⋯ A beta-lactam allergy was not associated with increased risk for GNB SSI. Further studies, using patient data from larger hospital databases, are needed to examine the relationship between use of urinary catheter before surgery and risk of GNB SSI.
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2009
Are there differences in hospital cost between patients with nosocomial methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection and those with methicillin-susceptible S. aureus bloodstream infection?
To examine the impact of methicillin resistance on in-hospital mortality, length of stay, and hospital cost after the onset of nosocomial Staphylococcus aureus bloodstream infection (BSI). ⋯ On the basis of propensity score, we found that methicillin resistance did not independently increase hospital cost or length of stay after onset of S. aureus BSI. We believe that use of a propensity score on a comparable subset of patients may be a better method than multivariable adjustment for assessing the impact of methicillin resistance in cohort studies.