Igiene e sanità pubblica
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Igiene e sanità pubblica · Jul 2010
Practice Guideline[Proposed updated isolation precautions guideline in a university teaching hospital in Italy].
Significant developments took place in the area of infection control since the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, (CDC, USA) 1996 publication of a guideline for isolation precautions in hospitals. New guidelines were therefore published by CDC in 2007 (Guideline for Isolation Precautions: Preventing Transmission of Infectious Agents in Healthcare Settings) and by the World Health Organization in 2009 (WHO Guidelines on Hand Hygiene in Healthcare). The authors propose an updated guideline that takes into account the new recommendations made by CDC and the WHO in light of the specific requirements of a university teaching hospital.
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Igiene e sanità pubblica · Jan 2010
Multicenter Study[Analysis of services and standards commitment charters in hospitals in the Campania Region (Italy)].
The healthcare services and standards commitment charter is a document produced by local health authorities/hospitals in Italy and aimed at citizens/healthcare users. With this document hospitals aim to openly express their philosophy and state which services they will commit to offer to users. ⋯ The online versions of the document were available and updated for all hospitals while the printed versions could be found only in three. With regard to the relative legislation's highly innovative contents concerning the safeguard of patients-citizens, however, study results revealed notable shortcomings with respect to all parameters analysed, in all charters.
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Igiene e sanità pubblica · May 2009
Comparative Study[Active immunoprophylaxis to reduce clinical impact of Herpes Zoster and its complications].
Herpes Zoster is a painful cutaneous eruption caused by reactivation of Varicella Zoster Virus, years after primary infection. Approximately one third of the population, and more than 50% of persons older than 80, will present zoster in their lifetime. Zoster complications, particularly postherpetic neuralgia, are common and result in worsening health status and quality of life, with high direct and indirect costs. Licensed zoster vaccine, available in Italy in a next future, is efficacious in preventing virus reactivation and particularly in reducing complications.
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Igiene e sanità pubblica · May 2009
Multicenter Study Comparative Study[Safety Walkround as a risk assessment tool: the first Italian experience].
In 2007 the Study Group "Clinical Risk Management" of the Italian Society of Anaesthesia and Intensive Care Unit (SIAARTI) performed a multicentric study in Intensive Care Unit (ICU) to assess the feasibility and efficacy of the Safety WalkRound (SWR) as a tool for the risk assessment. As the environment and organization of ICU are more complex than anaesthesia ones, mainly due to the severity of patients, high number of involved healthcare givers and different kinds of procedures, the Study Group decided that a check list is not fit for ICU and , after a careful review of the literature, chose to test the Safety WalkRound. in four Italian General ICUs. The SWR was born in 2003 when Frankel plans a structured interview of 15 questions (about 50% open) to collect operators' opinion about rate and type of errors, near misses, communication, problems regarding the report of adverse events and suggestions to increase patient safety. ⋯ The results of this study have demonstrated that the Italian translation is fit for the model by Frankel and makes available a lot of information useful to improve patient safety. The study has demonstrated the sensibility, efficacy and efficiency of this tool in detecting the vulnerabilities in every ICU of the four ones. SWR is marked by feasibility, high compliance of operators and low costs; besides increases safety culture in the staff and demonstrating.
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Igiene e sanità pubblica · Mar 2009
Multicenter StudyThe role of environmental factors and distance from Emergency Medical Services on the severity of road accidents.
Aim of this work is to assess the effect of some environmental factors on road accident severity in Tuscany (Italy). ISTAT data on road accidents occurred in Tuscany in 1991-2003 (228,833 accidents) have been analysed, considering the following variables: road type and characteristics, population density in the municipality where the accident occurred, presence of Emergency Medical Services (EMSs) in the municipality, distance between the municipality and the nearest EMS, according to 3 different criteria. The effect of each variable in accident severity (fatal vs not fatal) was assessed through logistic regression analysis. The results confirm the role of structural and environmental factors in influencing accident severity, in particular population density, location on the road and road type, while the effectiveness in preventing serious consequences due to distance from EMS is limited to the municipalities very close to hospitals.