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 2017
Comparative StudyComparing External Ventricular Drains-Related Ventriculitis Surveillance Definitions.
OBJECTIVE To evaluate the agreement between the current National Healthcare Safety Network (NHSN) definition for ventriculitis and others found in the literature among patients with an external ventricular drain (EVD) DESIGN Retrospective cohort study from January 2009 to December 2014 SETTING Neurology and neurosurgery intensive care unit of a large tertiary-care center PATIENTS Patients with an EVD were included. Patients with an infection prior to EVD placement or a permanent ventricular shunt were excluded. METHODS We reviewed the charts of patients with positive cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) cultures and/or abnormal CSF results while they had an EVD in place and applied various ventriculitis definitions. ⋯ CONCLUSIONS The agreement between published ventriculostomy-associated infection (VAI) definitions in this cohort was moderate to fair. A VAI surveillance definition that better defines contaminants is needed for more homogenous application of surveillance definitions between institutions and better comparison of rates. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:574-579.
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · May 2017
Randomized Controlled TrialA Randomized Trial to Determine the Impact of an Educational Patient Hand-Hygiene Intervention on Contamination of Hospitalized Patient's Hands with Healthcare-Associated Pathogens.
We conducted a non-blinded randomized trial to determine the impact of a patient hand-hygiene intervention on contamination of hospitalized patients' hands with healthcare-associated pathogens. Among patients with negative hand cultures on admission, recovery of pathogens from hands was significantly reduced in those receiving the intervention versus those receiving standard care. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol 2017;38:595-597.