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Found 180 results
  1. Content Article
    In this article, Anubha Taneja Mukherjee, Group Member Secretary of Thalassemia Patients Advocacy, writes about patient safety issues surrounding blood donation and transfusion in India. She looks at several recent cases of children with thalassemia being infected with HIV while having blood transfusions, and highlights growing concern about lack of regulation and inconsistent testing of donated blood in India. She argues that blood banks should use additional screening such as the Nucleic Acid Amplification Test (NAT) to provide a safety net and ensure that blood containing infectious diseases—such as HIV, hepatitis B and C, syphilis and malaria—is not unwittingly given to patients.
  2. News Article
    Half of healthcare facilities worldwide lack basic hygiene services with water and soap or alcohol-based hand rub where patients receive care and at toilets in these facilities, according to a new report by WHO and UNICEF. Around 3.85 billion people use these facilities, putting them at greater risk of infection, including 688 million people who receive care at facilities with no hygiene services at all. “Hygiene facilities and practices in health care settings are non-negotiable. Their improvement is essential to pandemic recovery, prevention and preparedness. Hygiene in health care facilities cannot be secured without increasing investments in basic measures, which include safe water, clean toilets, and safely managed health care waste,” said Dr Maria Neira, WHO Director, Department of Environment, Climate Change and Health. “I encourage Member States to step up their efforts to implement their 2019 World Health Assembly commitment to strengthen water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services in health care facilities, and to monitor these efforts.” The latest report, “Progress on WASH in health care facilities 2000–2021: special focus on WASH and infection prevention and control”, has for the first time established this global baseline on hygiene services – which assessed access at points of care as well as toilets – as more countries than ever report on critical elements of WASH services in their hospitals and other health centres. For hygiene, data are now available for 40 countries, representing 35% of the world’s population, up from 21 countries in 2020 and 14 in 2019. The newly established global estimate reveals a clearer and more alarming picture of the state of hygiene in health care facilities. Though 68% of health care facilities had hygiene facilities at points of care, and 65% had handwashing facilities with water and soap at toilets, only 51% had both and therefore met the criteria for basic hygiene services. Furthermore, 1 in 11 (9%) of health care facilities globally have neither. “If health care providers don’t have access to a hygiene service, patients don’t have a health care facility,” said Kelly Ann Naylor, UNICEF Director of WASH and Climate, Environment, Energy, and Disaster Risk Reduction (CEED). “Hospitals and clinics without safe water and basic hygiene and sanitation services are a potential death trap for pregnant mothers, newborns, and children. Every year, around 670,000 newborns lose their lives to sepsis. This is a travesty – even more so as their deaths are preventable.” Read full story Source: WHO, 30 August 2022
  3. Content Article
    In March 2018, the Secretary-General of the United Nations launched a global call to action for WASH in all healthcare facilities, noting that healthcare facilities are essential tools in reducing disease, and that without basic WASH services, healthcare facilities can instead contribute to more infections, prolonged hospital stays and preventable deaths, including of mothers and babies. This call was answered in a May 2019 World Health Assembly resolution calling on countries to conduct comprehensive assessments of WASH and IPC in health care facilities, and to take steps to improve WASH and IPC conditions where necessary. In May 2022, the World Health Assembly passed a resolution calling for WHO to draft a global strategy on infection prevention and control. The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), through the WHO/ UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply, Sanitation and Hygiene (JMP) release progress updates on WASH in households, WASH in schools and WASH in health care facilities every two years. This 2022 update presents national, regional and global estimates for WASH in healthcare facilities up to the year 2021, with a special  focus on the linkages between WASH and infection prevention and control (IPC).  Achieving universal access to WASH in health care facilities requires political will and strong leadership at both national and facility levels, but is highly cost-effective, and would yield substantial health benefits. 
  4. Content Article
    Non-ventilator-associated hospital-acquired pneumonia (NVHAP) is one of the most common and deadly healthcare-associated infections, but it is not tracked, reported or actively prevented by most hospitals. This article in the journal Infection Control & Hospital Epidemiology highlights a national call to action to address NVHAP in the US. This national call to action includes: launching a national healthcare conversation about NVHAP prevention. adding NVHAP prevention measures to education for patients, healthcare professionals, and students. challenging healthcare systems and insurers to implement and support NVHAP prevention. encouraging researchers to develop new strategies for NVHAP surveillance and prevention.
  5. Content Article
    When hospital patients do not have their teeth brushed it can lead to them developing pneumonia—poor dental hygiene in hospital is believed to be a leading cause of hundreds of thousands of cases of pneumonia a year. In this blog for Medscape, reporter Brett Kelman looks at the link between dental hygiene and hospital-acquired pneumonia, which kills up to 30% of patients who are infected with it. He highlights a lack of understanding of the impact of failing to brush inpatients' teeth, in spite of a growing body of research evidence that links lack of adequate toothbrushing to pneumonia infection.
  6. News Article
    Dentists in the UK should be encouraged to give antibiotics to patients at high risk of life-threatening heart infection before invasive procedures, a study has found. Research suggests bacteria from the mouth entering the bloodstream during dental treatment could explain 30% to 40% of infective endocarditis cases. The rare but life-threatening condition occurs when the inner lining of the heart chambers and valves become infected. Antibiotics could limit the number of cases and reduce the risk of heart failure, stroke and premature death in high-risk patients, the study says. Current guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) advise against the routine use of antibiotics before invasive dental procedures for those at risk of infective endocarditis. “Ours is the largest study to show a significant association between invasive dental procedures and infective endocarditis, particularly for extraction and surgical procedures,” said Prof Martin Thornhill from the University of Sheffield, who led the study. Nice should review its guidelines advising against antibiotic prophylaxis, the researchers said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 19 August 2022
  7. Content Article
    The European Network for Safer Healthcare (ENSH) joined forces with the European Association of Urology Nurses (EAUN) to work on a policy campaign to prevent catheter-associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI) in Europe as a path to improving patient safety and preventing anti-microbial resistance (AMR) through: Improvement of adherence to existing European guidelines to prevent CAUTI. Development of European indicators to support the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) and/or national surveillance systems.
  8. News Article
    People who go to hospital for non-covid treatment are at higher risk of the virus compared with the general public, which is why high levels of hospital-acquired Covid-19 in England are worrying some doctors. They fear that the coronavirus is becoming a potential hazard of a hospital stay for older or vulnerable people, in a similar way to “superbugs” such as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). People who go to hospital for non-covid-19 treatment are at higher risk from the virus compared with the general public, says Tom Lawton, an intensive care doctor in Bradford, UK. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The New Scientist, 21 July 2022
  9. Content Article
    This is the website of the independent public statutory Inquiry established to examine the circumstances in which patients in the UK were given infected blood and blood products, in particular since 1970. The Inquiry is Chaired by barrister Keith Langstaff, who has experience of health-related public inquiries. The website contains information on: public hearings and meetings evidence latest news on the Inquiry how to get support if you have been affected by infected blood products. The Inquiry team is also inviting patients and family members of patients who received infected blood or infected blood products to give evidence to the Inquiry, either as a written statement or by speaking to an intermediary. Evidence given to the Inquiry will contribute to its findings and recommendations.
  10. Content Article
    Slides on preventing catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI) presented at a Safer Healthcare and Biosafety Network meeting. The session aimed to: Provide a brief overview of CAUTI as a clinical problem. Summarise evidence for key infection prevention practices to reduce CAUTI. Consider how to implement improvements to support best practice and promote safer care.
  11. News Article
    A pilot scheme to reduce infections following catheter insertions has shown a 100% fall within a hospital trust. NHS Supply Chain is now encouraging acute trusts in England to take advantage of the scheme which has shown to not only reduce infection rates but shorten patient length of stay and save clinicians’ time. Catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTIs) are not uncommon and can cause patients significant pain, discomfort, confusion and anxiety for family and friends. They further impact healthcare with increased antibiotic use, prolonged hospital stays, increased clinical activity and risk of complaints and litigation. University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust had audited its urethral catheterisation practice, and the way catheterised patients w19 July ere cared for in clinical areas. The audit highlighted a wide variation in care delivery leading to inconsistent outcomes for patients and staff. After reviewing the available options, the University Hospitals of North Midlands NHS Trust decided to pilot the BARD® Tray which contains all the essential items to catheterise or re-catheterise a patient in one pack and includes the catheter with a pre-connected urine drainage bag. This unique ‘closed system’ prevents ingress of bacteria and helps avoid catheter related infection. NHS Supply Chain: Rehabilitation, Disabled Services, Women’s Health and Associated Consumables worked alongside supplier Beckton Dickinson to provide the tray products required by the trust. During the three-month pilot, catheter related infection rates fell by 100% at the trust which coincided with a reduction in complaints and a reduced length of hospital stay for patients. Clinicians reported that the pack was intuitive and saved around five minutes per catheterisation, which during the pilot process meant saving 83 hours from 1,000 catheterisation procedures. While the BARD® Tray was more expensive than the individual components that were currently purchased, the pilot study demonstrated the clinical and financial value that was delivered by the tray being implemented across an organisation. The overall cost of components is slightly cheaper, but due to reduced catheterisations, consumables spend fell by 24%. Read full story Source: NHS Supply Chain, 19 July 2022
  12. Content Article
    This Quality Improvement Programme for Surgical Site Infections document was developed as an output of an advisory board meeting, convened by Mölnlycke. The meeting focused on developing a resource to aid healthcare professionals to deliver successful infection prevention programmes in their organisations. 
  13. News Article
    Trust boards should start scrutinising performance against new indicators set out by NHS England this month as part of a national push to iron out unwarranted variation in performance on key sepsis blood tests, according to an NHSE report. Blood cultures are the primary test for detecting blood stream infections, determining what causes them, and directing the best antimicrobial treatment to deal with them. However, it is too often seen as part of a box-ticking exercise, according to a report published by NHSE yesterday. Improving performance on this important pathway should be integrated into existing trust governance structures for sepsis, antimicrobial stewardship, and infection control “to help secure a ‘board to ward’ focus on improvement,” the report says. It says there is too much variation in how blood cultures are taken prior to analysis and sets out two targets for trusts to use to standardise their collection. The first is ensuring clinicians collect two bottles of blood, each containing at least 20ml for culturing. The more blood collected, the higher the rate of detecting bloodstream infections. Blood culture bottles “are frequently underfilled”. The second is ensuring blood cultures are loaded into an analyser as fast as possible, within a maximum of four hours, because delaying analysis reduces the volume of viable microorganisms that can be detected. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 1 July 2022
  14. Content Article
    NHS England’s report into blood culture practices outlines key improvement steps in the pre-analytical phase of the blood culture pathway. Through targeted recommendations to trust chief executives, clinical and pathology staff, we have an opportunity to improve the blood culture pathway, antimicrobial stewardship and patient outcomes from sepsis. This document sets out proposals to improve and standardise the pre-analytical phase of the blood culture pathway. It details the outputs of the antimicrobial resistance (AMR) diagnostics improvement workstream at NHS England and NHS Improvement, and examines the required changes to improve existing processes within the blood culture pathway. It concludes with a set of recommendations for best practice.
  15. Content Article
    We’re looking for patients to help raise awareness of the damaging impact that surgical infections can have on people, and guide improvements. Have you ever been in surgery and contracted an infection? Do you want to share your experience anonymously and help create change? Take part in this survey: Experiences of Surgical Infections
  16. News Article
    A leading NHS hospital failed to publicly disclose that four very ill premature babies in its care were infected with a deadly bacterium, one of whom died soon after, the Guardian has revealed. St Thomas’ hospital did not admit publicly that it had suffered an outbreak of Bacillus cereus in the neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) of its Evelina children’s hospital in late 2013 and early 2014. It occurred six months before a well publicised similar incident in June 2014 in which 19 premature babies at nine hospitals in England became infected with it after receiving contaminated baby feed directly into their bloodstream. Three of them died, including two at St Thomas’. Leaked documents show that both the first outbreak and newborn baby’s death were investigated but never publicly acknowledged by the NHS trust that runs the hospital. GSTT insists that it did not acknowledge the baby’s death publicly in any reports because it believed the child had died of other medical conditions, not the bacteria. However, it declined to say if it had told the baby’s parents that it had become infected with Bacillus cereus. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 23 June 2022
  17. News Article
    Two drugs that combat superbugs are being introduced on the NHS, offering a lifeline to thousands of patients with deadly infections such as sepsis which fail to respond to antibiotics. About 65,000 people a year in the UK develop drug-resistant infections and 12,000 die, many after routine operations or from infections such as pneumonia or urinary tract infections. These superbugs such as MRSA have mutated to develop resistance to many different types of antibiotics as a result of overuse of the drugs. It means patients end up dying from common infections that would previously have been easily treatable with antibiotics. In a attempt to “turn the tide” on antibiotic resistance, the NHS has announced a deal for two drugs, cefiderocol and ceftazidime–avibactam, which can kill bacteria that is resistant to many other types of drugs. The drugs, manufactured by Shionogi and Pfizer respectively, will save the lives of about 1,700 patients a year. They will be offered to patients with conditions such as drug-resistant pneumonia, sepsis or tuberculosis who have run out of other treatment options. Amanda Pritchard, NHS chief executive, said this would make the UK a world leader in tackling “the global challenge of antimicrobial resistance”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 15 June 2022
  18. Content Article
    Infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes and practices play a vital role to ensure outbreak preparedness and control, including patient safety and quality of care, which remain essential components of universal health coverage across health systems worldwide. However, detailed IPC evaluations using standardised validated tools, such as the WHO IPC self-assessment framework (IPCAF), are limited.  Tomczyk et al. have conducted the first WHO global survey to assess implementation of these programmes in healthcare facilities. IPC professionals were invited through global outreach and national coordinated efforts to complete the online WHO IPC assessment framework (IPCAF). The study found that despite an overall high IPCAF score globally, important gaps in IPC facility implementation and core components across income levels hinder IPC progress. Increased support for more effective and sustainable IPC programmes is crucial to reduce risks posed by outbreaks to global health security and to ensure patient and health worker safety.
  19. Event
    When people seek healthcare, they are hoping to get better. Too often, however, they end up getting a new, avoidable infection – which is often resistant to antimicrobials and can sometimes even be fatal. When a health facility’s “quality and safety climate or culture” values hand hygiene and infection prevention and control (IPC), this results in both patients and health workers feeling protected and cared for. That is why the World Hand Hygiene Day (WHHD) theme for 2022 is a “health care quality and safety climate or culture” that values hand hygiene and IPC, and the slogan is “Unite for safety: clean your hands”. This webinar will bring together experts from WHO and from academic institutions and leaders from the field to discuss how a strong institutional quality and safety climate or culture that values hand hygiene and IPC is a critical element of effective strategies to reduce the spread of infection and antimicrobial resistance. New evidence on this as well as priorities for research in this area identified by WHO will be presented. With the help of a facilitator, participants will have the unique opportunity to dialogue with the expert panel and bring their experiences. The webinar will also be the exceptional moment for the launch of the first WHO global report on IPC. Now is the time to unite by talking about and working together on an institutional safety climate that believes in hand hygiene for IPC and high-quality, safe care. Objectives To overview the new WHO hand hygiene research agenda and evidence on the role of a health care quality and safety climate or culture for hand hygiene improvement. To describe a range of experiences regarding the evidence for and efforts to support a health care quality culture and safety climate through clean hands and IPC programmes of work. To launch the first WHO global report on IPC. Register
  20. News Article
    The NHS is falling behind in the race to tackle antibiotic-resistant infections, with the service set to miss two key targets. As part of the government’s 2019 five-year-action plan to tackle the growth in antimicrobial resistance (AMR), the NHS was set the target of reducing the number of healthcare-associated bloodstream infections of three gram-negative bacteria by 25% by March this year, and 50% by the end of March 2024. Infections caused by E. coli, pseudomonas aeruginosa and klebsiella can cause urine or wound infection, blood poisoning or pneumonia. The AMR action plan said: “In the UK, the biggest drivers of resistance [include] a rise in the incidence of infections, particularly gram-negatives.” Last week, health and social care secretary Sajd Javid stressed the continuing importance of the issue, stating that antimicrobial resistance is “one of the biggest health threats facing the world”. Analysis by HSJ has shown there has been only a small decline in the numbers of cases involving the three bacteria since monitoring started. The baseline for measuring the reduction was 2016-17, when there were 23,037 healthcare associated infections related to the bacteria. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 21 April 2022
  21. Content Article
    This customisable, educational toolkit published by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) aims to help ICUs reduce rates of central line-associated bloodstream infection (CLABSI) and catheter-associated urinary tract infection (CAUTI). The materials can be used to assess current safety practice, implement new approaches and overcome particular challenges related to CLABSI and CAUTI in ICUs.
  22. Content Article
    This briefing examines the results of a US study which showed that 80% of patients that have an infection from a cardiac implant are not treated according to clinical practice guidelines, increasing their chances of death from infection. When patients with implantable cardiac devices have an infection, current guidelines state that these devices should be removed, however, this did not happen for the majority of the 1,065,549 Medicare patients included in the study that had a cardiac implant infection between 2006 and 2019.
  23. Content Article
    Between 2006 and 2009, WHO elaborated and issued the concept of ‘My Five Moments for Hand Hygiene’ in healthcare in collaboration with the pioneering infection prevention and control (IPC) research group at the University of Geneva. The primary objective of this approach is to facilitate behavioural change and prioritise hand hygiene action at the exact times needed to prevent the transmission of pathogens and avoid harm to patients and health workers during care delivery. Importantly, the Five Moments approach overcomes some relevant barriers to hand hygiene practices identified before its launch, such as long lists for hand hygiene action without any consideration of the dynamics of patient, health worker and environmental interactions The Five Moments approach is being constantly tailored to meet the challenges of care locations outside the traditional hospital setting, as well as across all countries and resource levels. The main thrust of the approach remains targeted at patient and health worker safety at the point of care where the risk of acquiring infection can be at its highest. Further work to help meet the Five Moments objectives through its adaptation and adoption worldwide is to be welcomed. WHO committed to further action and research on lessons learnt from field implementation, as well as the active dissemination of available tools to support countries to further understand and accept this proven approach.
  24. Content Article
    This article by the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) provides advice for patients about steps they can take to help avoid catching healthcare-associated infections, which can ultimately lead to sepsis and even death. It outlines ten things patients and their families can do to protect themselves or their loved ones while receiving medical care. Speak up Keep hands clean Ask each day if your central line catheter or urinary catheter is necessary Prepare for surgery Ask your healthcare provider, “Will there be a new needle, new syringe, and a new vial for this procedure or injection?” Be antibiotics aware Watch out for deadly diarrhoea (aka Clostridium difficile) Know the signs and symptoms of infection Get vaccinated Cover your mouth and nose
  25. Content Article
    This article in the Journal of Diabetes Science and Technology reviews the literature from various geopolitical regions and describes how a substantial number of patients with diabetes improperly discard their sharps. Data support the need to develop multifaceted and innovative approaches to reduce the risks associated with improper disposal of medical sharps into local communities.
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