Hospital infection preventionists may spend more time collecting data than protecting patients

Nashville, Tenn., June 25, 2015—Collecting and reporting hospital infection data to federal health agencies takes more than 5 hours each day, at the expense of time needed to ensure that frontline healthcare personnel are adhering to basic infection prevention practices such as hand hygiene, according to a recent case study, to be presented on Saturday, June 27 at the 42nd Annual Conference of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

Study: Twitter shared news of first Ebola case 3 days before officials

Washington, DC, June 1, 2015 – Tweets regarding the Ebola outbreak in West Africa last summer reached more than 60 million people in the three days prior to official outbreak announcements, according to a study published in the June issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

APIC president invited to White House forum on antibiotic stewardship

APIC president Mary Lou Manning, PhD, CRNP, CIC, FAAN, FNAP, will participate in a White House Antibiotic Stewardship Forum on June 2, 2015. 

C. difficile rates highest in Northeast region, spring season

Rates of infection with the deadly superbug Clostridium difficile were highest in the Northeast region of the country and in the spring season over the last 10 years, according to a study published in the May issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

C. difficile doubles hospital readmission rates, lengths of stay

Patients with Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) are twice as likely to be readmitted to the hospital as patients without the deadly diarrheal infection, according to a study published in the April issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

Case Study: Nebraska’s Ebola isolation and decontamination approach

Washington, DC, March 2, 2015 – The Nebraska Biocontainment Unit (NBU), located at the Nebraska Medical Center, has shared its protocol for Ebola patient discharge, handling a patient’s body after death and environmental disinfection in the March issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

Late-breaking CRE news and resources

A CRE outbreak, linked to contaminated endoscopes, has been reported at UCLA's Ronald Reagan Medical Center. This is the second outbreak reported this year. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has issued a safety communication regarding cleaning ERCP endoscopes (also called duodenoscopes).

APIC collaborates on development of new CDC Ebola training modules for emergency departments

Washington, D.C., February 17, 2015 –The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) assisted the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality to create four new interactive, web-based training modules for emergency department personnel who treat patients with infectious diseases, which are now available on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) website.

Measles: What you should know

Because measles has recently made a comeback in the U.S., APIC's Communications Committee has created a fact sheet on the disease for consumers.

Low influenza vaccination rates among nursing home employees put residents at risk, study finds

Influenza is associated with as many as 7,300 deaths annually in nursing home residents, but the vaccination rate for nursing home staff is only 54 percent, according to a study in the February issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

Infections Increase Death Risk by 35% for ICU Patients, Study Finds

Elderly patients admitted to intensive care units (ICUs) are about 35 percent more likely to die within five years of leaving the hospital if they develop an infection during their stay, a new study finds. Preventing two of the most common healthcare-associated infections – bloodstream infections caused by central lines and pneumonia caused by ventilators – can increase the odds that these patients survive and reduce the cost of their care by more than $150,000, according to a study published in the January 2015 issue of the American Journal of Infection Control.

Study: Lapses in infection control associated with spread of severe respiratory virus MERS

Little is known about the often fatal virus known as Middle East respiratory syndrome coronavirus (MERS-CoV), but researchers have identified gaps in infection control as a major culprit in all eleven published cases involving healthcare-associated transmission of the virus. 

Case study: Nebraska Ebola unit details waste removal

The Nebraska Biocontainment Unit, located at the Nebraska Medical Center, shares best practices for Ebola waste removal, in a commentary published in in the December issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

National Influenza Vaccination Week

National Influenza Vaccination Week (NIVW), hosted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), highlights the importance of getting an influenza vaccination every year. Seasonal influenza, often referred to simply as “the flu,” causes approximately 150,000 hospital admissions and 24,000 deaths annually in the United States. Some people, such as older people, young children, and people with certain health conditions, are at high risk for serious flu complications.

APIC collaborates with Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality on Ebola PPE web training

The Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC) and the Johns Hopkins Armstrong Institute for Patient Safety and Quality have collaborated to create an interactive, web-based, educational training program focusing on proper personal protective equipment (PPE) use for healthcare personnel caring for patients with Ebola.

CDC Ebola resources

Statement on Ebola

Statement attributable to Katrina Crist, MBA, Chief Executive Officer, APIC

APIC teaches the ABC’s of antibiotic resistance

Antibiotic resistance, responsible for more than 23,000 deaths per year in the U.S., is the theme of International Infection Prevention Week (IIPW), October 19-25.

‘Deadly diarrhea’ rates nearly doubled in 10 years: study

Infections with the intestinal superbug C. difficile nearly doubled from 2001 to 2010 in U.S. hospitals without noticeable improvement in patient mortality rates or hospital lengths of stay, according to a study of 2.2 million C. difficile infection (CDI) cases published in the October issue of the American Journal of Infection Control, the official publication of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC).

Increase in enterovirus D68 pediatric cases reported in Midwest

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reports that hospitals in Missouri and Illinois are seeing an increased number of children with the severe respiratory illness enterovirus D68. Other states are also investigating clusters of children with severe respiratory symptoms that may be caused by enterovirus D68.