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Showing results for tags 'Healthcare associated infection'.
Found 180 results
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Content ArticleSurgical site infections (SSIs) are one of the main sources of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs), which is a leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. While multiple causes of SSIs have been identified, one key source of wound contamination is surgical smoke, which can contain live viruses and bacteria as well as toxic chemicals, particulates and contaminated body fluid in the form of blood and dispersed vapor. Plume serves as a transfer vehicle for these pathogens. A team of bacteriology experts at Biotest Laboratories, Inc. in Brooklyn Park, Minnesota, undertook a project to discover if effective smoke capture and evacuation could limit local dispersal and aerosolization of bacteria. The researchers used porcine tissue embedded with viable bacteria (Serratia marcescens) to determine the extent of viable bacteria present in surgical plume. They developed protocols, performed experiments and tabulated results for three separate experiments. Their tests showed that plume from blended current electrosurgery contained viable bacteria and that placing a suction device near the electrosurgical site reduced the number of aerosolised viable bacteria. The study confirmed that effective smoke capture prevents bacteria in smoke from being aerosolised and significantly reduces contamination of a simulated surgical wound, in this case by as much as 50% to 60% compared to control.
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News ArticleAn investigation into the outbreak of a bacterial infection that killed 15 people has found there were several “missed opportunities” in their care. Mid Essex Clinical Commissioning Group has released the outcome of a 10-month investigation into a Strep A outbreak in 2019, which killed 15 people and affected a further 24. The final report was critical of Provide, a community interest company based in Colchester, as well as the former Mid Essex Hospital Services Trust (now part of Mid and South Essex Foundation Trust). It said: “This investigation has identified that in some cases there were missed opportunities where treatment should have been more proactive, holistic and timely. These do not definitively indicate that their outcomes would have been different.” Investigators found that 13 of the 15 people that died had received poor wound care from Provide CIC. They reported that inappropriate wound dressings were used and record keeping was so poor that deterioration of wounds was not recognised. Even wounds that had not improved over 22 days were not escalated to senior team members for help or referred to the tissue viability service for specialist advice, with investigators told this was often due to concerns over team capacity. The report, commissioned by the CCG and conducted by consultancy firm Facere Melius, said: “[Some] individuals became increasingly unwell over a period of time in the community, yet their deterioration either went unnoticed or was not acted upon promptly. Sometimes their condition had become so serious that they were very ill before acute medical intervention was sought”. Other findings included delays in the community in the taking of wound swabs to determine if the wound was infected and by which bacteria. It said in one case nine days elapsed before the requested swab took place. Even after Public Health England asked for all wounds to be swabbed following the initial outbreak, this was only conducted on a single patient. In other cases there were delays in patients being given antibiotics and this “could have had an adverse impact on the treatment for infection”. It also found that sepsis guidelines were not accurately followed, wounds were not uncovered for inspection in A&E, and some patients were given penicillin-based antibiotics despite penicillin allergies being listed in their health records. Read full story (paywalled) Source: HSJ, 17 September 2020
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Content ArticleThis survey, a collaboration between the International Society for Quality in Healthcare (ISQua) and the International Hospital Federation (IHF) was designed to frame the WHO Global Consultation on Patient Safety, which was held from 24-26 February 2020 to kick off the development of the Global Patient Safety Action Plan. Already then, the pandemic-to-be was affecting various regions, before striking health systems worldwide. The question of patient safety is a critical one in the discussion about COVID-19: hygiene and hospital-acquired infections, non-suitable hospital architecture, delayed surgeries and procedures, lack of personal protective equipment (PPE) and much more affected the safety of patients as well as of health workers, to whom the World Patient Safety Day 2020 is dedicated. In February 2020, the IHF disseminated a short survey on national safety plans to its Full Members, hospitals’ national/regional representatives. At the same time, ISQua disseminated their survey asking how well incident reporting is in place, and if the outcomes improve the 'no blame no shame' approach to their Individual and Institutional Members. The surveys were repeated in July 2020 to see if the onset of COVID-19 had made any positive or negative changes to the responses.
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Content ArticleThis prospective study aimed to determine the surgical site infection (SSI) rate and associated risk factors was carried in a general surgical ward at Liaquat University Hospital Jamshoro. A total of 460 patients requiring elective general surgery from July 2005 to June 2006 were included in this study. All four surgical wound categories were included. Primary closure was employed in all cases. Patients were followed up to 30th day postoperatively. All cases were evaluated for postoperative fever, redness, swelling of wound margins and collection of pus. Cultures were taken from all the cases with any of the above finding. The overall rate of surgical site infection was 13·0%. The rate of wound infection was 5·3% in clean operations, 12·4% in clean‐contaminated, 36·3% in contaminated and 40% in dirt‐infected cases. Age, use of surgical drain, duration of operation and wound class were significant risk factors for increased surgical site infection.. Postoperative hospital stay was double in cases who had surgical site infection. Sex, haemoglobin level and diabetes were not statistically significant risk factors. In conclusion, surgical site infection causes considerable morbidity and economic burden. The routine reporting of SSI rates stratified by potential risk factors associated with increased risk of infection is highly recommended.
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Content ArticleTools and resources to support the implementation of the WHO Guidelines on Core Components of Infection Prevention and Control Programmes.
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Content ArticleHospital-acquired pneumonia, whether device associated or not, is the number one hospital-acquired infection in the United States and a major threat to the safety of patients. This blog by Patient Safety Movement discusses how engaging nurses in quality improvement around mouth care reduces ventilator acquired pneumonias.
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Content ArticleThis article from Delaveris et al. outlines one health system's experience implementing a bundle to reduce sepsis-related mortality and the observed connection between adherence to the bundle and improved sepsis care.
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News Article
1,000-year-old eye infection potion found to tackle antibiotic-resistant infections
Clive Flashman posted a news article in News
Antibiotic resistance is an increasing challenge for modern medicine as more naturally occurring antimicrobials are needed to tackle infections capable of resisting treatments currently in use. New research from the University of Warwick has investigated natural remedies to fill the gap in the antibiotic market, taking their cue from a 1,000-year-old text known as Bald's Leechbook. Read the full article here. -
Content ArticleThis article from Perlin et al. discusses how a 173-hospital system used technology as a strategy to reduce sepsis-related mortality system-wide by real-time dissemination of basic laboratory and clinical data to alert teams to patients exhibiting signs of sepsis risk.
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Content ArticleData published in the New England Journal of Medicine demonstrates that use of CareFusion’s patient preoperative skin preparation ChloraPrep® (2% chlorhexidine gluconate and 70% isopropyl alcohol) reduced total surgical site infections (SSIs) by 41%, from 16.1% to 9.5%, compared to use of povidone-iodine solution, the most commonly used preoperative skin preparation. In this prospective, randomised and well-controlled outcomes trial designed to compare the efficacy of skin antiseptics in reducing the risk of SSIs, ChloraPrep proved superior in clean-contaminated abdominal, urologic, gynecologic and thoracic surgery. “For nearly a decade, healthcare professionals have relied on the proven efficacy of ChloraPrep,” said Stephen R. Lewis, MD, chief medical officer of CareFusion. “This study is an example of our ongoing commitment to providing clinicians with evidence-based data that clinically differentiates our products in order to help improve patient care and lower costs.”
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Content ArticleDuncan L Wyncoll and Peter J Young discuss 'Treating the symptom not the cause' of ventilator associated pneumonia.
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Content ArticleThe PneuX System is a novel endotracheal tube and tracheal seal monitor, which has been designed to minimise the aspiration of oropharyngeal secretions. Doyle et al. aimed to determine the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) in patients who were intubated with the PneuX System and to establish whether intermittent subglottic secretion drainage could be performed reliably and safely using the PneuX System.
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Content ArticleThis document highlights practical recommendations in a concise format to assist acute care hospitals in implementing and prioritising strategies to prevent ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) and other ventilator-associated events (VAEs) and to improve outcomes for mechanically ventilated adults, children, and neonates.
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Content ArticleVentilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) continues to be a clinically important hospital-acquired infection. In this paper, Marin H. Kollef discusses the financial impact.
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Content ArticleVentilator-associated pneumonia is an important healthcare-associated infection. Interventions for the prevention of ventilator-associated pneumonia are often used within bundles of care. Recent evidence has challenged widespread practices mandating a review of subject. This article outlines guidance for ventilator-associated pneumonia prevention.
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Content ArticleVentilator-associated pneumonia (VAP) is an important cause of morbidity and mortality in ventilated critically ill patients. Muscedere et al. systematically searched for all relevant randomised, controlled trials and systematic reviews on the topic of prevention of VAP in adults that were published from 1980 to 1 October 2006. in order to develop evidence-based guidelines for the prevention of VAP.
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Content ArticleThe Perioperative Warming Quality Improvement Resource summarises the evidence for temperature monitoring, pre, intra and post-operative warming, plus intravenous and irrigation fluids. See also the Perioperative Warming Decision Guide to help support what pre, intra and post-op actions need to be taken to prevent inadvertant perioperative hypothermia.
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Content ArticleThe Surgical Skin Preparation Quality Improvement Resource summarises the evidence for patient washing, hair removal, skin disinfection and the use of incise drapes.
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Content ArticleLearn about the latest scientific evidence around theatre ventilation, movement in and out of theatres and the cleaning processes.
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Content ArticleA guide about skin preparation and disinfection to help reduce the risk of surgical site infection.
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Content ArticleThe OneTogether Quality Improvement Resources are intended to provide practical information for implementing best practice for each of the elements of care across the surgical pathway. These resources can be used as stand‑alone documents, but are recommended to be used in conjunction with the OneTogether Assessment Toolkit. The OneTogether Assessment Toolkit is designed to measure adherence to best practice to prevent surgical site infection (SSI). Following completion of the OneTogether Assessment, healthcare professionals will be able to identify areas of low compliance and develop a prioritised action plan for improvement. The Quality Improvement Resources summarise the evidence underpinning recommended practice and provide a competency assessment checklist. The information they contain is drawn from evidence-based guidelines or expert recommendations from professional bodies
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Content ArticleEducate and inspire your surgical teams to adopt the recommended guidance across the surgical pathway.
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Content Article
COVID-19: Information from the Intensive Care Society
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Guidance
The Intensive Care Society has created a page to provide the critical care community with resources and information on COVID-19. The Society is collaborating with Government, FICM and other agencies to ensure they provide consistent, up to date and relevant messaging to support your understanding of and management of COVID-19. -
Content ArticleAdvice from the World Health Organization.
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Content Article
NHS: How to wash your hands
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Good practice and useful resources
Washing your hands is one of the easiest ways to protect yourself and others from illnesses. The NHS has provided a short video to find out the best way to wash your hands and top tips.
