Search the hub
Showing results for tags 'Healthcare associated infection'.
Found 203 results
-
News Article
Cosmetic surgery patients are returning to the UK with superbugs
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
British patients who travel abroad for cheap cosmetic surgery are bringing back dangerous superbugs, nurses have warned. Some NHS hospitals had a 30 per cent rise in infections caused by potentially fatal antibiotic-resistant bacteria, triggered by patients returning from operations overseas. NHS nurses spoke of “horrific wounds”, infections, sepsis and deaths in patients over the past two years from complications after having surgery overseas — and suggested that foreign clinics should pay the NHS compensation when things go wrong. Thousands of British patients faced with long NHS waiting lists and high costs for private surgery in are going abroad instead, most often to Turkey and eastern Europe. Popular procedures include weight-loss surgery, breast procedures and “Brazilian butt lifts” (BBLs). Clinics often offer “package deals” of several procedures, which adds to the risk. Wes Streeting, the health secretary, has urged people to “think very carefully” before going overseas for surgery — warning that the NHS is left to “pick up the pieces”. Read full story (paywalled) Source: The Times, 14 May 2025 -
Content Article
AHRQ's MRSA prevention toolkit: Targeting SSI
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Surgical site infections
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) toolkit for MRSA Prevention: Targeting SSI highlights four key evidence-based strategies to prevent MRSA and SSI: nasal decolonisation, preoperative skin antisepsis, antimicrobial prophylaxis and evidence-based prevention strategies. Surgical teams can incorporate concepts from the AHRQ Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Programme framework into their current care team to promote patient safety culture and enhance teamwork and communication. Access the toolkit’s extensive resources, including presentations and facilitator guides, plus staff and patient training materials to help your facility get started or supplement your existing MRSA and SSI prevention efforts. -
Content ArticleInfections acquired in health care settings, including those antimicrobial resistant, cause tremendous suffering to patients, families and health workers and pose a high burden on health systems. Most of these infections are preventable with appropriate infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes and practices and basic water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) services. Improving IPC and WASH saves lives and yields high economic gains. At the 77th World Health Assembly, all countries adopted the WHO global action plan and monitoring framework 2024-2030. This document provides the evidence on the expected return in investment in and guidance for implementing and monitoring the WHO global action plan on IPC at the country level.
-
Content ArticleThis systematic review aimed explore the association between triclosan-containing sutures and the risk of surgical site infections. The results show that use of triclosan-containing sutures was associated with significantly fewer surgical site infections compared with sutures without triclosan.
-
Content Article
ECRI: Top 10 patient safety concerns 2025
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in International patient safety
ECRI's Top 10 Patient Safety Concerns 2025 highlights the most pressing safety challenges facing both patients and staff in the coming year. This report not only identifies these critical issues but also provides actionable recommendations to address and mitigate them. The list for 2025: Risks of dismissing patient, family, and caregiver concerns. Insufficient governance of Artificial Intelligence in healthcare The wide availability and viral spread of medical misinformation: Empowering patients through health literacy. Medical error and delay in care resulting from cybersecurity breaches. Unique healthcare challenges in caring for veterans. The growing threat of substandard and falsified drugs. Diagnostic error: The big three—cancers, major vascular events and infections. Persistence of healthcare-associated infections in long-term care facilities. Inadequate communication and coordination during discharge. Deteriorating community pharmacy working conditions contribute to medication errors and compromise patient and staff safety. -
Content ArticleHospital-acquired pressure injuries are a significant patient safety concern. The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services tracks hospital-acquired pressure injuries as a patient safety indicator. Healthcare organisations with higher-than-expected rates may incur penalties. The aim of this study was to reduce the prevalence and incidence of hospital-acquired pressure injuries in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit. Local problem The pressure injury prevalence rate in a cardiothoracic intensive care unit was above the National Database of Nursing Quality Indicators benchmark. The current standard of care—use of the Braden scale for pressure injury risk assessment and the SKIN (surface, keep turning, incontinence care, and nutrition) care bundle—may not adequately address the needs of the intensive care unit population. In addition, cardiac patients present a special challenge because of their disease process and the mechanical support devices used to treat patients in cardiogenic shock, which place them at risk for the development of hospital-acquired pressure injuries. Methods A performance improvement project was carried out in the cardiothoracic intensive care unit to reduce the prevalence and incidence of hospital-acquired pressure injuries. A preintervention convenience cohort was compared with a postintervention cohort. The intervention consisted of use of the Cubbin-Jackson scale, an intensive care unit–specific risk-assessment tool, with linked interventions to prevent pressure injuries. Results The preintervention and postintervention cohorts consisted of 102 patients each. The pressure injury prevalence and incidence rates decreased by 67.84% and 36.43%, respectively, from before to after the intervention. Conclusion The use of an intensive care unit–specific risk-assessment tool with linked interventions to prevent pressure injury can help reduce hospital-acquired pressure injuries in an intensive care unit.
-
Content ArticleLeapfrog content to raise awareness of the risks associated with waterborne pathogens. Waterborne diseases account for 118,000 hospitalisations each year in the United States and adds burdens to both patients and hospitals. Learn more about why creating a culture of prevention is important.
-
Content ArticleNHSN is a secure, web-based surveillance application that is the nation’s most widely used healthcare-associated infection (HAI) tracking system. The application is managed and maintained by the Division of Healthcare Quality Promotion (DHQP) at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). While ensuring data security, integrity, and confidentiality, NHSN gives healthcare facilities the ability to see their data in real-time and share that information with clinicians and facility leadership, as well as with other facilities (e.g., a multihospital system) and partners such as health departments or quality improvement organizations. CDC provides the standard national measures for HAIs as well as analytic tools that enable each facility to assess its progress and identify where additional efforts are needed. In addition, NHSN is the conduit for facilities to comply with Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) infection reporting requirements. NHSN provides medical facilities, states, regions, and the nation with data collection and reporting capabilities needed to: identify infection prevention problems by facility, state, or specific quality improvement project benchmark progress of infection prevention efforts comply with state and federal public reporting mandates drive national progress toward elimination of HAIs. NHSN includes the following components: Patient Safety, Long-term Care Facility, Outpatient Dialysis, Healthcare Personnel Safety, Biovigilance, Outpatient Procedure, and Neonatal.
-
Content Article
CDC: Tips for being a safe patient
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in International patient safety
Did you know you can get infections in healthcare settings while being treated for something else? Healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) can spread from person to person, through hands, medical equipment and more. HAIs are becoming more resistant to antibiotics and antifungals, making them difficult, and sometimes impossible, to treat. Patients and their loved ones can help prevent HAIs, including those caused by antimicrobial-resistant germs. These tips from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) describe how to be a safe patient and help reduce your risk of infections. What you can do to be a safe patient: 1. Tell your healthcare provider about any recent care. 2. Tell your healthcare provider if you think you have an infection or if your infection is getting worse. 3. Take antibiotics exactly as prescribed and tell your healthcare provider if you have any side effects, such as diarrhoea. 4. Remind staff and visitors to keep their hands clean. 5. Allow people to clean your room. -
Content ArticleMost hospitals have stopped testing all patients for Covid-19 when they are admitted and no longer require masking. Ten hospitals in the Mass General Brigham hospital system ended both these precautions simultaneously in May 2023 but restarted masking for health care workers in January 2024 during a winter respiratory viral surge. This study in JAMA Network Open looked at the association of these changes with the relative incidence of hospital-onset Covid-19, influenza and respiratory syncytial virus (RSV). The study showed that stopping universal masking and Covid-19 testing was associated with a significant increase in hospital-onset respiratory viral infections relative to community infections. Restarting the masking of health care workers was associated with a significant decrease.
-
Content Article
WHO: Global report on infection prevention and control 2024
Mark Hughes posted an article in Infection control
This report highlights the burden of health care-associated infections (HAIs) and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the related harm to both patients and health workers in care settings. It also presents an updated global situation analysis of the implementation of infection prevention and control (IPC) programmes at the national and health care facility levels, including a focus on the WHO regions. Headline points from this report include: On average, out of every 100 patients in acute care hospitals, seven patients in high-income countries (HICs), and 15 patients in low and middle-income countries (LMICs), will acquire at least one HAI during their hospital stay. Almost up to one third (30%) of patients in intensive care can be affected by HAIs, with an incidence that is two to 20 times higher in LMICs than in HICs, in particular among neonates. One in four (23.6%) of all hospital-treated sepsis cases are health care-associated and this increases to almost one half (48.7%) of all cases of sepsis with organ dysfunction treated in adult intensive care units. In 2023–2024, according to the system established to monitor the status of country progress towards the implementation of the AMR global action plan (the Tracking AMR Country Self-assessment Survey), 9% of countries did not yet have an IPC programme or plan. Only 39% of countries had IPC programmes fully implemented nationwide, with some being monitored for their effectiveness. -
Content ArticleIn 2023, the first BD Healthcare Resilience Barometer explored the variety of factors that impact the stability of our healthcare system – from shifting population demographics and resourcing constraints to developments in the macroeconomic environment and the increase of chronic disease. This year, BD look closer at three core components that impact care delivery: the patients, the workforce, and the processes that drive overall efficiency. These components are tightly interconnected. Therefore, the challenges affecting them must be addressed holistically to enable us to build sustainable and resilient healthcare systems that can preserve access to safe, high-quality care for current and future generations and minimise the impact on the environment. The comprehensive solutions that are needed to address the challenges of today’s healthcare systems call for collaboration and collective commitment from all actors connected directly and indirectly to care delivery. It includes policymakers, regulators, researchers, academia, healthcare providers, funders, insurers, patients, and industry. The 2024 BD Healthcare Resilience Barometer captures the perspectives of stakeholders across the healthcare ecosystem and outlines the role we can all play in building sustainable healthcare systems that stand resilient, responsive, and ready for the evolving needs of our societies.
-
Content ArticleA set of 5 infographics describing the the factors that influence the risk of nosocomial transmission of infections (such as Covid19), and how health and care staff can take action to manage the risks and reduce the infection rate. The factors explained are: People Equipment Task Environment Organisation These infographics are from the summary HSIB report (22 October 2020) entitled "COVID-19 transmission in hospitals: management of the risk – a prospective safety investigation". The exec report can be found here. They explain the five main aspects related to the nosocomial transmission of infection, and how the risks of this happening can be properly managed.
-
Content ArticlePublished literature suggests “one-size-fits-all" infection prevention and control (IPC) staffing recommendations do not sufficiently account for programme complexity needs. This project's objective was to create and validate a calculator utilising risk and complexity factors to generate individualised IPC staffing ratios. Highlights A significant association exists between higher standard infection ratio ranges and staffing status for certain health care-associated infection types. Almost 80% of hospitals participating in the study were identified as having lower than expected staffing levels. More than 85% of respondents who believed their staffing levels were inadequate came from hospitals found to have lower than expected IP staffing by the calculator. This novel approach allows facilities to staff their IPC programme based on individual factors. Future versions of the calculator will be optimised based on the findings. Future research will clarify the impact of staffing on patient outcomes and staff retention.
-
Content ArticleAnaesthesia professionals have consistently been leaders in patient safety and have long recognised the importance of hand hygiene in the anaesthesia workspace.Hand contamination is associated with pathogen transmission across multiple anaesthesia workspace reservoirs, and genome analysis of bacteria cultured from provider hands and infection causing pathogens have confirmed that providers transmit pathogens that result in patient infections.Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) transmission among anaesthesia workspace reservoirs is associated with an increased risk of surgical site infection (SSI). In order to reduce this risk, a multifaceted approach is indicated to prevent SSIs. When improved hand hygiene is incorporated as part of a multifaceted programme, substantial reductions in S. aureus transmission and SSIs can be achieved.These findings should provide the impetus for widespread improvements in hand hygiene compliance for all intraoperative personnel, with anaesthesia professionals taking the lead.
-
Content ArticleInfection Prevention and Control (IPC) is considered to be a practical, evidence-based approach to prevent avoidable infections in healthcare settings, including those caused by antimicrobial resistant germs. In this blog, Claire Kilpatrick highlights a review article published in 2020. It outlines the approaches to prevention of surgical site infections (SSI) and adds new information on the world of global IPC, including recently launched initiatives that might impact on and support the surgical community. It also summarises some of the resources to implement the World Health Organization’s (WHO) SSI prevention guidelines. The founding member of WSIS, Joseph Solomkin, was chair of and played a key influencing role in this guideline evidence.
-
Content ArticleThis study in Intensive and Critical Care Nursing examined the association between safety attitudes, quality of care, missed care, nurse staffing levels and the rate of healthcare-associated infection (HAI) in adult intensive care units (ICUs). The authors concluded that positive safety culture and better nurse staffing levels can lower the rates of HAIs in ICUs. Improvements to nurse staffing will reduce nursing workloads, which may reduce missed care, increase job satisfaction, and, ultimately, reduce HAIs. Key findings ICUs with strong job satisfaction had lower incidence and nurse-reported frequency of CLABSI, CAUTI, and VAP. Missed care was common, with 73.11% of nurses reporting missing at least one required care activity on their last shift. The mean patient-to-nurse ratio was 1.95. Increased missed care and higher workload were associated with higher HAIs. Nurses’ perceptions of CLABSI and VAP frequency were positively associated with the actual occurrence of CLABSI and VAP in participating units.
-
Content ArticleWhole-body bathing or showering with a skin antiseptic to prevent surgical site infections (SSI) is a usual practice before surgery in settings where it is affordable. The aim is to make the skin as clean as possible by removing transient flora and some resident flora. Several organisations have issued recommendations regarding preoperative bathing. The care bundles proposed by the United Kingdom (UK) High impact intervention initiative and Health Protection Scotland recommend bathing with soap prior to surgery. The Royal College of Surgeons of Ireland recommends bathing on the day of surgery or before the procedure with soap . The USA Institute of Healthcare Improvement bundle for hip and knee arthroplasty recommends preoperative bathing with CHG soap. Finally, the UK-based National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines recommend bathing to reduce the microbial load, but not necessarily SSI. In addition, NICE states that the use of antiseptics is inconclusive in preventing SSI and that soap should be used. The purpose of this systematic review is to assess the effectiveness of preoperative bathing or showering with antiseptic compared to plain soap and to determine if these agents should be recommended for surgical patients to prevent SSI.
-
Content ArticleThe Pennsylvania Patient Safety Reporting System (PA-PSRS) is the largest database of patient safety event reports in the US. In addition to over 4.5 million acute care reports, the PA-PSRS database contains more than 396,000 long-term care healthcare-associated infection (HAI) reports. This study in Patient Safety aimed to look at trends in HAIs in long term care using data from the PA-PSRS database. The study found that there was an increase in the total number and rate of infections reported to PA-PSRS in 2022.
-
Content ArticleThis study in the Journal of Patient Safety and Risk Management aimed to assess the patient safety situation in Ghana across the World Health Organization's (WHO’s) 12 action areas of patient safety. The authors used interviews and observation including a WHO adapted questionnaire across 16 selected hospitals, including two teaching hospitals selected from the northern and southern parts of the Ghana. The key strength identified in the patient safety situational analysis was knowledge and learning in patient safety, while patient safety surveillance was the weakest action area identified. There were also weaknesses in areas such as national patient policy, healthcare associated infections, surgical safety, patient safety partnerships and patient safety funding.
-
Content ArticleThis study in the American Journal of Surgery aimed to understand the impact of operating room temperature and humidity on surgical site infection (SSI). The authors found that large deviations in operating theatre temperature and humidity do not increase the risk of SSI.
-
Content ArticleThis bulletin from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI) describes two new in-hospital infections indicators for Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) and Methicillin-Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA). It includes a table listing CIHI’s selected patient safety performance indicators and definitions.
-
Content Article
Surgical Voices podcasts
Patient Safety Learning posted an article in Surgery
A series of podcasts from Molnlycke UK, with host Steve Feast, discussing topics such as sustainability, patient safety and more. Episodes: Sustainability in the operating theatre - guest speakers Tod Brindle, Molnlycke Medical Director, and Toby Cobbledick, Molnlycke Sustainability Specialist. Preventing surgical site infections: pre-surgery - guest speaker Lindsay Keeley, Patient Safety and Quality Lead AfPP. Preventing surgical site infections: post-surgery - guest speaker Lindsay Keeley, Patient Safety and Quality Lead AfPP. Supporting patients in their recovery from surgery - guest speaker Helen Hughes - Chief Executive of Patient Safety Learning. -
News Article
Bleach does not tackle fatal hospital superbug, UK researchers find
Patient Safety Learning posted a news article in News
Liquid bleach does not kill off a hospital superbug that can cause fatal infections, researchers have found. Clostridium difficile, also known as C diff, is a type of bacteria found in the human gut. While it can coexist alongside other bacteria without problem, a disruption to gut flora can allow C diff to flourish, leading to bowel problems including diarrhoea and colitis. Severe infections can kill, with 1,910 people known to have died within 30 days of an infection in England during financial year 2021-2022. Those at greater risk of C diff infections include people aged over 65, those who are in hospital, people with a weakened immune system and people taking antibiotics, with some individuals experiencing repeated infections. According to government guidance, updated in 2019, chlorine-containing cleaning agents with at least 1,000 ppm available chlorine should be used as a disinfectant to tackle C diff. But researchers say it is unlikely be sufficient, with their experiments suggesting that even at high concentrations, sodium hypochlorite – a common type of bleach – is no better than water at doing the job. “With antimicrobial resistance increasing, people need to recognise that overuse of biocides can cause tolerance in certain microbes, and we’re seeing that definitely with chlorine and C diff,” said Dr Tina Joshi, co-author of the research, from the University of Plymouth. While chlorine-based chemicals used to be effective at killing such bacteria, that no longer appears to be the case, she said. “The UK doesn’t seem to have any written new gold standard for C diff disinfection. And I think that needs to change immediately,” she said. Read full story Source: The Guardian, 22 November 2023 -
News ArticleHospital-acquired infections, which became substantially more common during the pandemic, have returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to a new report from a US patient safety watchdog group. It's key to note, researchers say, that infection rates before March 2020 were nothing to celebrate. On top of that moderately good news, the Leapfrog Group found other metrics that measure patient safety and satisfaction have fallen significantly, likely because of hospital staffing shortages and other pandemic-era challenges. "We're encouraged and relieved to see that infections are rapidly decreasing in hospitals following the spike during the pandemic, but we remain very concerned about a number of major problems in hospitals," said Leah Binder, president and CEO of Leapfrog, an independent, national nonprofit founded by large employers and other purchasers. Patient surveys following hospital visits found declines in experiences for the second year in a row in all states. Particularly significant drops were reported in “communication about medicines” and “responsiveness of hospital staff." Preventable errors have been linked to these problems. "Hospitals need to take a hard look at what they are unnecessarily continuing post-pandemic that are not helping patients," Binder said. Read full story Source: USA Today News, 6 November 2023
