Baltimore: While Clostridium difficile has clearly won several of the early rounds, infection preventionists are making progress in the fight to prevent C. diff infections (CDIs), according to a new survey by the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology…
Already finalizing an infection control survey for hospitals, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has expanded the scope of the program to assess compliance with quality improvement and discharge planning during the same visit. The original plan was…
Infection preventionists have generally weathered the Great Recession in good shape, though the field remains in flux as “old school” IPs leave and a new wave of IPs from more diverse backgrounds enter the field. One very good sign is…
The state public health and clinical collaboratives that rapidly identified a national outbreak of meningitis with an unusual fungal etiology remain at the mercy of a foe that may prove equally unforgiving: the bean counter. It can be frustratingly hard…
On the heels of a Supreme Court ruling confirming its constitutionality, yesterday’s presidential election results mean that the 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act remains upright and intact as the signature piece of legislation of a two-term president. While challenger…
“To achieve true success, one must be an influencer rather than an enforcer.” – Ann Marie Pettis, RN, BSN, CIC Meet Christie Chapman, BSN, RN, CPAN. A California hospital infection preventionist for scarcely more than a year, she is plenty…
Infection preventionists are all too familiar with the wildly successful program that inevitably loses energy and fades back to baseline levels. That is not the case with the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP), say clinicians who have adopted the approach…
The Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality (AHRQ) has created a website with a wealth of tools to help hospitals set up the Comprehensive Unit-based Safety Program (CUSP). Front-line users that have implemented CUSP say they not only reduced infections, but dramatically…
Infection preventionists arrive to the profession by circuitous paths, with few entering health care with a clear goal of becoming an IP. Though the profession is gradually becoming more formalized in terms of background and training, many health care professionals find themselves with…
Infection preventionists must “draw the line” for patient safety by identifying and reporting infections despite pressure from consumers, colleagues and administrators in a new age of transparency, a leading health care epidemiologist urged. Allan Morrison, MD, epidemiologist at INOVA Fairfax…