Patti Grant, RN, BSN, MS, CIC, director of Infection Prevention and Quality at Methodist Hospital for Surgery in Addison, TX, has been elected the 2013 president of the Association for Professionals in Infection Control and Epidemiology (APIC). Excited to take…
Two of the nation’s leading infection prevention groups expressed support for the increasing alignment of reimbursement with clinical quality improvement, though warning that the electronic reporting required in this process is going to be something of a work in progress….
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…
San Antonio, TX: Given current population demographics, infection prevention following joint replacement surgery is emerging as a new priority to reduce health care costs and patient suffering. In particular, preventing infectious complications following increasingly common knee and hip replacements could…
If you can’t make it to the upcoming APIC conference — or even if you can — Hospital Infection Control & Prevention will be providing breaking coverage and live reports from San Antonio via this blog, our exclusive newswire reports…
As a veteran of the ever-changing infection prevention beat, I usually call Ruth Carrico when some complicated multi-faceted issue could stand a dose of uncommon sense. Years ago, I was trying to reach her for a story and she came…
Money talks. The 2008 decision by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) to cut reimbursement for certain health care-associated infections (HAIs) has led to enhanced focus on infection prevention and changes in practice by front-line staff, according to…
They come only to bring love and support, flowers and magazines. Yet visitors no doubt serve as vectors for infectious pathogens already in the hospital or unwisely walk in with some illness of their own. By the same token, given…
”A hero is someone who has given his or her life to something bigger than oneself.” Joseph Campbell How many lives saved, families unshattered, tears that never fell? Preventing something by definition means it never occurs, but we know infection…
Those who have been in infection prevention for lo these many years will remember a time when the health care environment was discounted as a significant source of transmission of HAIs. This was in part a healthy reaction to the…