The Infection Control Today® health care-acquired infections (HAIs) page presents updates on the latest techniques and strategies in the never-ending battle between infection preventionists and HAIs. Focusing on the latest in medical literature, we also present perspectives from the top infection preventionists and other medical experts in the country about how to put the growing knowledge of HAIs into use in the everyday world of infection prevention. Articles and videos often focus on methods to contain and control pathogens and multidrug-resistant organisms from spreading within the health care system.
October 21st 2024
New research highlights long COVID’s global impact, cognitive decline, and societal consequences, urging renewed focus on prevention, including vaccination, mask use, and better air quality.
Q&A: IPs at Children’s Hospital Were Ready When COVID Struck
October 8th 2020Sarah Smathers, MPH, CIC, FAPIC: “I think that hospital administrators are concerned about how they’re going to recruit in a field that is expecting a lot of retirees: 40% of infection professionists are expected to retire in the next five to 10 years.”
Q&A: How Direct to Business Coverage Can Help Infection Care
September 18th 2020Brent James, MD: “If you had an inpatient who developed an inpatient infection, it was like he got a console from ID in about three or four seconds. You just called up the program. You had to tell it the sites of infection you’re interested in, but then it did an epidemiologic evaluation of that patient.”
Expanding Size, Variety of Infection Prevention Team Pays Off
September 16th 2020Diversifying roles and creating support staff benefits the team by increasing the productivity of the department and providing a deeper bench so that IPs can focus on broader activities requiring specific subject matter expertise.
Continuously Active Disinfectants Can Keep COVID at Bay
July 31st 2020Charles P. Gerba, PhD: “Unfortunately, standard procedures for testing and registration by regulatory agencies of CADs (continuously active sanitizers or disinfectants) as disinfectants useful in preventing exposure to disease causing microorganism transmission has only taken place in recent years.”
HAIs Didn’t Go Away When COVID-19 Came Along
July 28th 2020As the pandemic seems not to abate, patients will start to present to the hospital after delaying crucial primary and preventive care visits, meaning sicker non–COVID-19 infected patients, with the potential for increased CLABSI and CAUTI rates.
Bug of the Month: You Don't Want Me Visiting During Your Hospital Stay
July 24th 2020Before 2000, I was uncommon in the United States. I’ve become much more common since, and though health experts don’t know just how many people I infect each year, they can say with certainty that I am a major cause of infections in healthcare settings.
National Reporting System for All Dangerous Pathogens Needed
July 20th 2020After decades of reluctance to implement a national reporting system, when COVID-19 came along we witnessed almost overnight the formulation of case definitions and comprehensive national reporting from all healthcare facilities.
COVID-19 Experience Suggests Need for National Reporting System for Dangerous Pathogens
June 9th 2020Infection preventionists (IPs) are stretched to the limit with both reporting and patient responsibilities with an unwillingness of facilities to prioritize infectious disease prevention in their operating budgets.
Go Team! IPs and Antimicrobial Stewardship Programs Take On Superbugs
April 8th 2020Infectoin preventionists's can bring their perspective and strengths to the antimicrobial stewardship (AMS) program and offer ways to bring the work to the bedside and engage the partnerships that already exist to make AMS programs successful.
A Conversation With Christina Tan, MD, MPH: Coronavirus, Public Health, and Infection Prevention
February 24th 2020Christina Tan, MD, MPH, state epidemiologist and assistant commissioner with the New Jersey Department of Health, discusses the current coronavirus outbreak and how infection prevention efforts can help curb its spread.