The following are developments in infection control between Jan. 13-24 as covered on Becker's Hospital Review Quality and Infection Control channel, starting with the most recent.
1. 6 Steps to Reduce HAI Transmission From Healthcare Personnel Attire. White coats are ubiquitous in healthcare settings, but they may be contributing to the spread of healthcare-associated infections. Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology has published guidelines drafted by the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology in America that modify healthcare personnel attire to help reduce the potential for HAI transmission.
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2. Hospital Taps With Aerators More Often Contaminated, Study Finds. Water from hospital faucets with aerators has up to 10 times more gram-negative bacteria than water from deeper within the plumbing system, according to research published in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
3. Hospitals Handling More Sepsis Cases Experience Lower Mortality Rates. Experiencing more events of sepsis may better prepare hospitals to deal with the infection, according to a study published in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.
4. HAI Testing Market to Gain $5B by 2019. The worldwide market for hospital-acquired infection testing is expected to grow nearly 20 percent over seven years from $2.2 billion in 2012 to $7.5 billion in 2019, according to a report by Transparency Market Research, "Hospital Acquired Disease Testing-Global Industry Analysis, Size, Share, Growth, Trends and Forecast, 2013-2019."
5. 6 Statistics on SSI Readmissions Following Hip, Knee Replacement. Surgical site infection is a common complication following total hip and total knee arthroplasties, leading to readmissions and extra costs. Researchers explored rates and costs of SSI readmission among approximately 76,000 patients who had one of the procedures in 2007 in an article in Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology.
6. Pediatric Ear Infections Carry $3B Annual Price Tag. Ear infections, the most common ailment in all children, cost the U.S. healthcare system $3 billion annually, according to research from Los Angeles-based UCLA and Cambridge, Mass.-based Harvard University published in The Laryngoscope.
7. AHRQ Supplement on HAIs and Design Released. An Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality-funded report on HAIs and healthcare facility design has been published in a special supplement to Health Environments Research & Design Journal.
8. Disposable ECG Wires Not Effective in Reducing HAIs. Preliminary data show single-use echocardiogram wires are not any more effective in reducing the number of intensive care unit infections than reusable echocardiogram wires, according to a MedPage Today report.
9. FDA Recalls Faulty Antimicrobial Hospital Safety Showers. River Edge, N.J.-based Nephros SafeSpout and SafeShower has announced a Class I recall on water filtration faucets due to a potentially faulty filter that could expose patients to harmful bacteria or viruses.
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