Infection control and hospital epidemiology : the official journal of the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · Aug 1998
Critical-care-unit bedside design and furnishing: impact on nosocomial infections.
Hospitals in the process of building or renovating intensive-care units (ICUs) often establish multidisciplinary design teams. However, these teams rarely include infection control professionals. ⋯ Infection control professionals are familiar with the relevant research, as well as the regulations and guidelines related to ICU design and infection control practices. Not only is their input essential to the design and construction of safe and effective units but their presence on the design team can allow the prospective collection of comparative data to turn the building project into a research project.
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · Jun 1998
Clinical TrialStudy of a needleless intermittent intravenous-access system for peripheral infusions: analysis of staff, patient, and institutional outcomes.
To assess the effect on staff- and patient-related complications of a needleless intermittent intravenous access system with a reflux valve for peripheral infusions. ⋯ A needleless intermittent intravenous access system with a reflux valve for peripheral infusions is effective in reducing percutaneous injuries to staff and is not associated with an increase in either insertion-site complications or nosocomial bacteremia. Institutions should consider these data, available institutional resources, and institution-specific data regarding the frequency and risk of intermittent access-device-related injuries and other types of sharps injuries in their staff when selecting the above or other safety devices.
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · Apr 1998
Randomized Controlled Trial Comparative Study Clinical TrialComparison of vancomycin and cefuroxime for infection prophylaxis in coronary artery bypass surgery.
To investigate clinically significant differences between vancomycin and cefuroxime for perioperative infection prophylaxis in coronary artery bypass surgery. ⋯ The data suggest that vancomycin has no clinically significant advantages over cephalosporin in terms of antimicrobial prophylaxis. We suggest that cefuroxime (or first-generation cephalosporins, which were not studied here) is a good choice for infection prophylaxis in connection with coronary artery bypass surgery in institutions without methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus problems. In addition to the increasing vancomycin-resistant enterococci problem, the easier administration and usually lower price of cefuroxime make it preferable to vancomycin.
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · Apr 1998
Disinfection of hospital rooms contaminated with vancomycin-resistant Enterococcus faecium.
Sixteen percent of hospital room surfaces remained colonized by vancomycin-resistant enterococci (VRE) after routine terminal disinfection. Disinfection with a new "bucket method" resulted in uniformly negative cultures. Conventional cleaning took an average of 2.8 disinfections to eradicate VRE from a hospital room, while only one cleaning was required with the bucket method.
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Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol · Mar 1998
Low risk for tuberculosis in a regional pediatric hospital: nine-year study of community rates and the mandatory employee tuberculin skin-test program.
To assess the risk of Mycobacterium tuberculosis infection and disease among patients and workers in a regional pediatric hospital. ⋯ Despite intense active surveillance among thousands of hospital employees with >97% annual compliance, tuberculin conversion rates were low, and no cases of active TB were identified during 9 years of follow-up. There was no evidence of transmission of M tuberculosis from infected patients to employees during uncontrolled exposures. Rates of TB in the community were low. These data suggest that rigorous application of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines and Occupation Safety and Health Administration regulations for preventing nosocomial TB in pediatric hospitals may be excessive and costly. Special provisions should be made for pediatric hospitals with a proven low risk of transmission of M tuberculosis.