Infection control and hospital epidemiology : the official journal of the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · Sep 2012
Relationship between chlorhexidine gluconate skin concentration and microbial density on the skin of critically ill patients bathed daily with chlorhexidine gluconate.
Previous work has shown that daily skin cleansing with chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG) is effective in preventing infection in the medical intensive care unit (MICU). A colorimetric, semiquantitative indicator was used to measure CHG concentration on skin (neck, antecubital fossae, and inguinal areas) of patients bathed daily with CHG during their MICU stay and after discharge from the MICU, when CHG bathing stopped. ⋯ In MICU patients bathed daily with CHG, CHG concentration was inversely associated with microbial density on skin; residual antimicrobial activity on skin persisted up to 24 hours. Determination of CHG concentration on the skin of patients may be useful in monitoring the adequacy of skin cleansing by healthcare workers.
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · Sep 2012
Multicenter Study Comparative StudyCentral line-associated bloodstream infection surveillance outside the intensive care unit: a multicenter survey.
The success of central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) prevention programs in intensive care units (ICUs) has led to the expansion of surveillance at many hospitals. We sought to compare non-ICU CLABSI (nCLABSI) rates with national reports and describe methods of surveillance at several participating US institutions. ⋯ Only 2 hospitals were below the pooled CLABSI rate for inpatient wards; all others exceeded this rate. Possible explanations include differences in average central line utilization or hospital size in the impact of certain clinical risk factors notably absent from the definition and in interpretation and reporting practices. Further investigation is necessary to determine whether the national benchmarks are low or whether the hospitals surveyed here represent a selection of outliers.
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · Sep 2012
Development of a modified surveillance definition of central line-associated bloodstream infections for patients with hematologic malignancies.
To develop a modified surveillance definition of central line-associated bloodstream infection (mCLABSI) specific for our population of patients with hematologic malignancies to better support ongoing improvement efforts at our hospital. ⋯ A modified surveillance definition of CLABSI was associated with an increase in the identification of staphylococci as the cause of CLABSIs, as opposed to enteric pathogens, and a decrease in CLABSI rates.